Diplomacy & Trade 2014 June by Diplomacy&Trade

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> “There is an extensive presence of Dutch companies in this country and they require the attention of our Embassy. We have a very active network and we try to support them wherever we can. A part of my job, since I arrived over half a year ago, has been to establish my private network with these firms and – at the same time – build up a network with the Hungarian society on political, economic and cultural levels,” the Dutch Ambassador in Budapest, Gajus Scheltema explains in a comprehensive interview with Diplomacy & Trade as part of our special focus on the Netherlands.

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COMPANY NEWS Dirty Cash | MOL-Agip | MellowMood

TWENTY YEARS AFTER RWANDA Humanitarian measures and ‘Responsibility to protect’

COUNTRY FOCUS The Netherlands

WITTY LEAKS By Albanian Ambassador Mira Hoxha

DIPLOMACY European Institute of Peace | Diplomatic events

NORWAY

> With victories in the national and European parliamentary elections, the Fidesz party is well positioned for the local elections in the fall. The largest opposition party, the Socialists, is in total disarray and will take the next several months to regroup under a new leadership team. The most important item on the agenda for all parties will be the Budapest municipal elections where the opposition parties still may have a good chance. The Ambassador of the Netherlands in Hungary, Gajus Scheltema arrived in Budapest nine months ago and quickly picked up the active pace required to support Hungary’s third largest investor group. With an accumulated investment portfolio of close to EUR 10 billion since 1989, Dutch investors are present in almost all major sectors of the Hungarian economy and their businesses provide jobs for 20-25 thousand people here. In an extensive interview Diplomacy & Trade discussed bilateral economic relations (trade and investment), as well as cultural, social and civil ties with the Ambassador. These topics are dealt with in detail in articles and interviews with the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and the Dutch Club. We also present how bilateral relations are viewed by the Netherlandistic department of the University of Debrecen, we talk to Anna Sándor, the founder of the Spinoza House on the occasion of her royal Dutch recognition and we recognize the effect the Dutch have on Hungarian bicyclists. Looking ahead to the art sensation of the year, opening in the fall, the ’The Golden Age of the Netherlands in the 17th century’ exhibition: hundreds of works of art on display, including 20 Rembrandt paintings from all over the world. Put the event on your must see calendar. Continuing on the Norwegian theme from the previous issue, we offer an article on Norwegian Funds, provide background on the Nobel Peace Prize and Abel Prize and present more Norwegian companies in Hungary. Also present in this issue, new President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the best-known Hungarian numismatolgist, while our regular political analysis is on the humanitarian ‘responsibility to protect’ issue in Africa. June is the beginning of the summer tourist and holiday season. Budapest and the countryside are already teeming with people enjoying the sights and the festivals. Hungary is recognized as Europe’s best value in all categories from backpackers to 5-star programs. Europeans won’t have to travel the 6,000 kilometers to Rio, the nation of Puskás welcomes the World Cup in many venues with giant screens to enjoy the games.

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SOCIALIST PARTY CHAIRMAN RESIGNS > "As chairman of the Socialist Party, I take full responsibility for these fiascos," Attila Mesterházy said in a statement posted on the party's website on May 29. While he will retain his seat in parliament, he will no longer serve as the head of the party’s parliamentary delegation and will not run for the post of party chairman again. His resignation came four days after the European parliamentary elections in which his party did much worse than expected, winning only two of the allotted 21 Hungarian seats. This and the worse-than-expected performance of the left wing coalition at the April 6 national elections, caused widespread dissatisfaction with the party leadership among members of the party who called for his departure. Mesterházy's resignation brings further uncertainty to the party which has also seen its support eroded from within the left, by the Democratic Coalition (DK) led by former Socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and Together 2014, led by another former prime minister, Gordon Bajnai. The Reuters news agency quoted the director of think tank Political Capital, Péter

Krekó, as saying that a quarter of a century after the fall of communism, the Socialists, who were ousted from power by the currently governing Fidesz in 2010, are in a downward spiral that is going to be difficult to halt. He added that the Socialists could easily be challenged by the DK party, with Gyurcsány emerging as a potential leader of the left again. The national board of the Socialist Party held a meeting on May 31 and convened a congress for July 19 to renew the party’s leadership. In the meantime, the party will be steered by its national election committee, led by the head of the board, Szeged Mayor László Botka. Socialists’ parliamentary group will be headed by deputy group leader József Tóbiás until the congress in July.

FIDESZ WINS EP ELECTIONS IN HUNGARY > Less than 29% of the electorate voted in the European Parliamentary

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elections in Hungary on May 25. 12 of the 21 Hungarian seats were won by the governing Fidesz, with Jobbik, the Socialists, the Democratic coalition, the Together PM and LMP also passing the 5% threshold. The results in Hungary somewhat resembled those of the recent (April 6) national assembly elections but - due to different rules the seats won were more evenly distributed. This time, eight parties were running for the 21 seats allocated for Hungary. 51.5% of the votes won 12 seats for Fidesz; parties of the democratic opposition that ran together in the national elections were given 27.9% (2 seats for the Socialists, 2 for the Democratic Coalition and 1 for the 'Together-PM'); the extreme-right Jobbik's 14.7% share of the votes were rewarded with two seats; the green LMP, as in the national elections, just passed the 5% threshold and won 1 seat.

EUROPEAN COURT CONDEMNS HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT OVER JUDGE DISMISSAL > The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Hungary had fired one of its most senior judges, András Baka, for criticism of the government. The impact of the decision, however, will be mainly symbolic, as the ECHR imposed no punishment on Hungary, although, it reserved the right to rule later on

continent. May 9 is celebrated on the continent as the Day of Europe, to commemorate that in 1950 Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, proposed a political and economic pact which later provided the foundations of the European Union.

HUNGARY TOP COURT RULING MAULS ONLINE COMMENTING reparation payments to Baka over his dismissal three years before the end of his mandate. A spokesman, András Giró-Szász, said the government would assess the ruling from the ECHR court and "make a decision if necessary". The European Court held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right of access to court) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression). "The Court held that Mr. Baka’s access to court had been impeded, not by express legislative exclusion, but rather by the fact that the premature termination of his mandate had been written into the new Hungarian Constitution itself and was therefore not subject to any form of judicial review," it added. The Court also found that Mr Baka’s dismissal had been "due to the criticism he had publicly expressed of government policy on judicial reform when he was President of the Supreme Court, underlining that the fear of sanction, such as losing judicial office, could have a ‘chilling effect’ on the exercise of freedom of expression and risked discouraging judges from making critical remarks about public institutions or policies." In the months before his dismissal, Baka had spoken out repeatedly in public, raising questions about the impact of the new constitution on the ability of the judiciary to function effectively and independently.

EUROPE DAY CELEBRATED ON HUNGARY’S 10TH EU ANNIVERSARY > The European Union must undergo changes, but not in a way that jeopardizes basic principles, Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi said on May 9, Europe Day, at a Budapest reception celebrating the 10th anniversary of Hungary joining the EU. Observing the original ideas of the EU is becoming more and more important, he added. Minister of State for EU affairs, Enikô Gyôri, emphasized earlier in the day, presenting awards to acknowledge efforts in Hungary's EU integration, that the country's membership is a definite success. Addressing Europe Day celebrats, she said that Hungary had developed a mature position on all EU issues over the past ten years and with the help of a well-functioning public administration, has managed to voice and protect its positions in a coordinated way. Tamás Szûcs, Head of the Hungarian Representation of the European Commission, and Andrea Lôvei, head of the European Parliament's information office, noted the importance of EU values and respect for national identities. The EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, László Andor, said European countries after the Second World War understood how they failed after WWI, namely how important it was to guarantee long-term peace on the

> Hungary’s Constitutional Court ruled that the content provider of any website can be held responsible for comments infringing other persons’ rights even if it was not aware of the infringing content, regardless whether the content in question was removed at once at the requests of the aggrieved party. The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU or TASZ) said "the decision of the Constitutional Court will have a disproportionately large deterring effect on online public debates that are still lively today." The top court threw out a complaint filed by the Association of Hungarian Content Providers – whose members include popular online news portals – against a ruling by Hungary’s Curia (Supreme Court), concerning derogatory comments made on the internet. The Curia had earlier ruled against the association, saying that commenters on a website under the association’s control had "overstepped the boundaries of free expression" and that the website allowed for "seriously derogatory, humiliating" remarks. The HCLU argues that "the ruling could substantially change how the Internet is used today to express opposing views and how we use it for debates." "Imposing unconditional and direct responsibilities on Internet content providers can stifle free debate on issues of public interest in Hungary," the Representative on Freedom of the Media at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) warned.

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companynews company news.

PÁRIZSI UDVAR: A NEW MELLOW MOOD GROUP DEVELOPMENT > Mellow Mood Group, owned and managed by Sameer Hamdan and Zuhair Awad, have proven again that its dynamic, developing, young and energetic team is able to bring projects to Budapest and Hungary which will protect national architectural monuments from devastation and give them back to the capital and the 5th district as diamonds, a communiqué by the Group says. The national monument of the Párizsi Udvar (‘Parisian Court’ - an Art Deco shopping passage) with its difficult fate is one of the most beautiful and well-known architectural works of the capital, whose condition steadily declined during the past years. Mellow Mood Group managed to find such an investor, Ayesh-Majdi Helmi Rida who, with this purchase. ensures the opportunity for its protection. Mr. Rida conducted his studies in Hungary, but later moved to Dubai. He is in Hungary several times a year and since he has strong affection for Budapest, he was looking for investment possibilities. From the starting point of the process, he needed a local partner with experience in the reconstruction of national monuments and in project management. Mellow Mood Group not only has the relevant experience, but its owners are friends; therefore, they have mutual trust in each other. The Mellow Mood Group will also have the management rights to the property. Reconstruction of the Párizsi Udvar, one of Budapest’s gems will further strengthen the 5th district’s intention to lift the standard of this part of the downtown, which makes Budapest more attractive to tourists, increasing the turnover and income of the city. The planned hotel, restaurants and shops will create many new jobs in the capital. The last huge project of Mellow Mood Hotels, the 5-star luxury Buddha-Bar Hotel Budapest Klotild Palace, in the beautifully reconstructed

> Hungarian oil and gas group MOL has signed a set of agreements with Italy’s eni relating to the acquisition of three eni subsidiaries including primarily their 208 Agip branded service stations and wholesale activities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. MOL has also signed an agreement to purchase eni’s stake in the refinery Ceska Rafinerska, which is however has to be offered first to Unipetrol based on its pre-emption right. "The investment is fully in line with MOL Group’s strategy to extend our presence and significantly increase the retail market share within the supply radius of our core refineries. The new service stations will extend our captive market as well as improve our ability to reach end users. By the integration of these networks MOL realizes pronounced wholesale and retail synergies and cost optimization," MOL released in a statement.

In the Czech Republic, the MOL Group significantly enhances retail positions as its combined market share grows above 10%. By adding 125 service stations to the existing 24 Slovnaft and 125 PAP Oil service stations, MOL Group becomes – with a total of 274 stations – the second largest motor fuel retailer in the country in terms of network share. In addition, 40% of the acquired eni network is located in big cities or on highways, while the average throughput of the network is almost twice as high as the national average. In Slovakia, the Group’s total network size will reach 253 stations. Additionally, the 41 newly acquirted stations will further improve average throughput and customer value proposition of the Slovnaft network. In Romania, the Group significantly expanded the local network organically in the previous years. As a consequence of the current deal, 42 stations will be added to the existing network and the total Romanian network size will reach 189 service stations with more than 12% retail market share.

> Research released by MasterCard shows that despite believing handling cash, bank notes or coins to be unhygienic and dirty, only one in four Hungarians (and one in five Europeans on average) wash their hands after handling money. Despite an obvious aversion to cash, only one third of Hungarians would not want it to be handled or used by dozens of strangers before using it. According to the survey, this is most likely because they never think of it (49%) or because they wash their hands or disinfect their hands after handling cash (29%). The European study of over 9,000 consumers from 12 countries highlighted how – despite being ranked as more unhygienic than hand rails on public transport – Europeans are struggling to break the bad habit of paying with dirty cash. Three quarters of all Europeans agreed they should be cautious

when it comes to handling cash, due to the germs it may contain, however, findings showed we are more likely to wash our hands after touching an animal (46%) or travelling on public transport (36%) than after handling cash. As Endre Eölyüs, MasterCard’s Country Manager for Hungary and Slovenia pointed out, “we are sharing a lot of objects and surfaces with others, and even though, in most cases, this has no negative consequences, it is very important to raise awareness about potential health risks. Cashless payments, therefore, are a logical solution. Unlike European banknotes that are made of cotton fibers, bank cards are not porous, and can be cleaned and disinfected any time. Utilizing electronic payment methods are not only an innovative way to pay but also help to eliminate some of the bacteria and germs we know are transmitted when handling and spending notes or coins.”

W E B EL IE V E GRE AT DIN IN G EX P ER IE N CE S SHOU L D IN VO LVE AL L THE SE N SE S.

Noémi Bruzák/MTI, Syda Productions/Shutterstock.com, Dávid Harangozó

MOL BUYS 208 AGIP SERVICE STATIONS IN THE REGION

DIRTY CASH

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building of Klotild Palace, was given in November, 2013 the Best International Hotel Interior Award. The Group says this recognition is evidence that an extraordinary value can be created with the protection of a national monument. Mellow Mood Group has been in the tourism market since 1997. Its portfolio contains 13 hotels in Budapest and one in Vienna, office buildings and retail stores. With this latest project, the Group aims at a segment of the market that makes its operation complete.

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Twenty Years after Rwanda HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION AND ’RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT’ than a robust action, such as massive (aerial) bombardment would claim, including what the military euphemistically call ‘collateral damage’. Then, there is the question of the morality of a humanitarian intervention or ‘responsibility to protect’ multilateral action. In any military action, the moral side involves at least two aspects: the jus ad bellum, that is, moral justification for waging war, and the jus in bello, that is, the morality of the methods used in the war. In case of the humanitarian intervention, the emphasis is on the former; the potentially relevant (pre)conditions for jus ad bellum incorporate legitimate authority, a just cause, good prospects for success, proportionality of the action taken, and – very importantly – whether the military action is taken as a last resort, whether all the other peaceful options (diplomatic, political, economic, etc. pressures) have been exhausted. Of course, regarding the jus in bello, immoral methods, disproportionate actions or methods can question the legitimacy of the whole mission.

BY TAMÁS MAGYARICS

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Adam Jones

FOREIGN POLICY EXPERT

Though the Rwandan Civil War started in October 1990, it was in 1994 that the majority Hutu people attacked the minority Tutsi population and massacred hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps even a million. The contemporary UN mission to Rwanda, UNOMIR, initiated in October 1993 and incorporating a few hundred troops under Belgian command, was hapless in the face of the genocide. The great powers did not have any direct interest at stake in the African country, and despite the urging of some junior government officials, such as Samantha Powers in the Clinton Administration, none of them felt it its duty to intervene to stop the atrocities. The ’game-changer’ event came the following year when in mid-1995, the Serb forces murdered thousands of ethnic Albanian males at Srebrenica. The issue was kept on the international agenda, and was indeed given a new urgency, when in 1999, the so-called ethnic cleansing intensified in the Kosovo-conflict. NATO swung into action and forced the Miloseviçregime to abandon military action against the Kosovars and accept the de facto independence of Kosovo. In fact, NATO was acting in the name of ’humanitarian intervention’ as the only body under international law that can authorize the use of force against a state. The UN Security Council, did not give its blessing to the action; in reality, the U.S. and her European allies did not even seek such an authorization for fear of a certain Russian veto. The conditions of ’humanitarian intervention’ are far from universally defined, let alone accepted. First, it is especially the smaller states in the so-called developing world that are contesting the very concept; some of them see it as an excuse by the bigger states to bypass international law and intervene in their domestic affairs, that is, violating their sovereignty. State sovereignty is one of the basic pillars of international order, and a challenge to it might have serious repercussions, claim the opponents of the ’humanitarian intervention’. The UN Charter provides that ”Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United

Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.” On the other hand, the political leaders in the West claimed that crimes against humanity must be prevented and punished no matter whether it had been committed by one state against another state’s population or against its own people. Then British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s widely publicized speech in Chicago on April 22nd, 1999 expressed the general sentiment in the democratic countries: “We cannot let the evil of ethnic cleansing stand. ... We cannot turn our backs on conflicts and the violation of human rights within other countries if we still want to be secure. ... [T]he principle of noninterference must be qualified in important respects. Acts of

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genocide can never be a purely internal matter. ...” President Clinton declared that “... genocide is in and of itself a national interest where we should act...” The single most important intellectual and practical effort to date to bridge the concepts of the sovereignty of the states and the international community’s obligation or responsibility to act in the face of grave violations of human rights is the concept of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) born in 2001. The report and the findings of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) was subsequently adopted by the UN in an ‘outcome document’ in 2005, which established the states’ responsibility to protect their citizens from ”genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against

humanity.” In case one state fails to live up to these obligations, the international community has the responsibility and the right to act. This principle was first applied a year later, when a UN mission was sent to Darfur to protect the local people against the violent actions by the Sudanese government forces. Ultimately, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Mun also endorsed the ‘R2P’ in a report issued in July 2012; he related to the Holocaust, the ‘killing fields of Cambodia’, Rwanda, and Srebrenica in the first place when he called the ‘R2P’ timely and decisive response in the Libyan civil war. It is generally agreed that the legitimacy of the ‘R2P’ requires multilateral action (as opposed to a unilateral one), and that multilateral action should have a promise of protecting or saving more people

Besides the issues related to the morality and the legitimacy of humanitarian intervention, there is a political one. By implication, the ultimate (stated or unstated) goal of any such intervention is regime change and, by implication, attempts at nation-building (although state-building would be a more appropriate term). This is what happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya; therefore the opponents of humanitarian intervention and ‘R2P’ argue that they can be used simply as a cover for displacing leaders who might be antagonistic to some key members of the international community. The critics also mention the selectivity and inconsistency of the actions taken so far in the name of humanitarian intervention and claim that the conditions for them are too elastic. The most vocal opponents are those, including Russia and China, whose standards or interpretations of human rights are different from the democratic societies’. So long as there is not a universal agreement on human rights, the concepts of humanitarian intervention and ‘R2P’ continue to remain in the center of intense debates.

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Dutcham

Philips

Dutch Club

LeasePlan

Cycling

The Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce promotes and facilitates page 10 bilateral economic ties.

The Holland-based electronics company, one of the largest in the world, has been present in Hungary since 1989. page 11

With the ex-pat community decreasing in Hungary, the Dutch Club also has more and page 12 more Hungarian members.

Leaders on the operational leasing market in Hungary, LeasePlan celebrates two page 13 decades in Hungary.

Cycling is more than a sport for the Dutch. Hungarians are also discovering this page 16 healthy way of transport.

For a Very Open, Frank and Direct Dialogue INTERVIEW WITH DUTCH AMBASSADOR GAJUS SCHELTEMA CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

Europe: issues and directions “If you try to put it all together, I think what is most important is that we have a very open, frank and direct dialogue with Hungary about

Europe. We are both members of the European Union, we are both very committed to Europe as an institution, as a single market and as a community of values and we would like to have continuous open discussions about these issues, about which direction we should go in Europe. This is very important for two reasons. There has been a growing euroskepticism in the past few years and we need to discuss what Europe is about and what it is not, and what we should do better,” the ambassador points out. He believes that, at the same time, Europe is under threat. “I only have to mention Ukraine and the escalation of the conflict there. Ukraine is a neighbor of Hungary but the

crisis there affects all of us as EU partners and as NATO partners. But it’s not just Ukraine; it is also the challenges of the 21st century: challenges in the economic field, in the ecological field, in sustainability of the future economy and also new challenges in terms of poverty, freedom, human rights, conflict prevention, not just in the Ukraine but also in the sub-Saharan region, the MiddleEast – all huge challenges that the world faces today and tomorrow. We can only solve these if we work together.” There is cooperation in the military field, literally. “In the region of Várpalota, north of Lake Balaton, there is a huge training ground, a military training area where Holland had

3,000 soldiers exercising this spring. This is something we cannot do in the Netherlands anymore as we simply don’t have space. I believe it is a win-win situation to conduct these exercises over here. It is also a practice in logistics, how to move troops and equipment, and it brings us to a different environment and at the same time to a familiar environment. Our troops learned a lot from each other in Afghanistan, as well,” Ambassador Scheltema reminds us.

More predictability needed In the area of economic relations, the Ambassador mentions as major investors “the multinationals, such as Philips, AKZO, Shell,

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Gajus Scheltema presented his credentials to Hungarian President János Áder on September 25, 2013. He says these past 6-7 months have been fairly busy. “Hungary is an important trade partner for the Netherlands, which occupies a very important investor position (third or fourth, depending on criteria) with an accumulated investment portfolio of close to EUR 10 billion since 1989. It means that there is an extensive presence of Dutch companies in this country and they require the attention of our Embassy. We have a very active network and we try to support them wherever we can. A part of my job, since I arrived over half a year ago, has been to establish my private network with these firms and – at the same time – build up a network with the Hungarian society on political, economic and cultural levels, he explains to Diplomacy & Trade. Partners in this activity include the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and the Dutch community club, “we have good fora, good platforms and a lot of interaction on the Dutch side. As far as the Hungarians are concerned, we interface with the Foreign Ministry, other ministries, individuals, people from political parties, organizations such the investment and trade agency HITA as well as the Hungarian Innovation Agency. Then, there is the NGO community, among them really active ones like Open Society and Transparency International, civil societies – there is a whole spectrum of people that we are in contact with,” he adds. Regarding his objectives as the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Hungary, Gajus Scheltema says he would like to see Dutch trade and Dutch investments increase as well as further political contacts established between the Netherlands and Hungary as well as greater cultural manifestations.

Dávid Harangozó

BY SÁNDOR LACZKÓ

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Unilever, Heineken, banks like ING and the insurance firm Aegon as well as the employment company Randstad. Compared to these, perhaps not that well known internationally, but the two Dutch leasing firms present here are also important companies worldwide: LeasePlan has about a quarter of the Hungarian market in the field of leasing private cars to companies, while the most dominant firm in Hungary for the leasing of trucks is De Lage Landen (DLL). When asked how satisfied Dutch investors are with the Hungarian business environment, Ambassador Scheltema says “it is a bit of a mixed bag. In the past couple of years, many companies – and not just the Dutch – have been unpleasantly surprised by the speed of new legislation, often not very well thought through, as well as by the new and often inexplicable tax system. This volatility in decision-making does not help attracting new investments. The need for predictability, reliability and transparency – these important business values are all highlighted by Dutch companies present in Hungary.” The Ambassador has not been able to talk to economics minister Mihály Varga about these issues raised by Dutch companies. “Perhaps after the formation of the new government, I’ll have the chance to speak with him directly.” He adds that Hungarian officials always stress that “yes, we’ve gone through a somewhat tumultuous process but now, we promise you that the government’s policy will be more predictable and more consistent.”

Dutch culture highlighted this fall As far as cultural relations are concerned, the Ambassador says he is convinced that this area is one of the best vehicles for strengthening relations in the broader sense. “We are very lucky this year that the Rembrandt exhibition, including three Vermeer paintings, will take place in Budapest this fall. The exhibition pieces all come from abroad, not only from Holland but from places like the Louvre and Metropolitan galleries and from private collections, as well, 150 paintings altogether. The King of the Netherlands will be the patron of the exhibition along with President Áder.” The Embassy will use the Rembrandt exhibition as a spring board for several satellite events, through which they hope to portray Dutch culture. “An event of particular importance for us will be the Hungarian Design Week in October where the

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facts compared AREA country comparison to the world: POPULATION country comparison to the world: POPULATION GROWTH RATE country comparison to the world BIRTH RATE country comparison to the world LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH country comparison to the world NET MIGRATION RATE country comparison to the world GDP - PER CAPITA (PPP) country comparison to the world UNEMPLOYMENT RATE country comparison to the world TELEPHONES - MOBILE/CELLULAR country comparison to the world AIRPORTS country comparison to the world

memory. The first lecture was delivered this May by Jan Pronk, a former Dutch government minister and well-known Development Cooperation expert.

Budapest very hard to escape

Netherlands will be the guest nation. We will present the best of Dutch design and – what is perhaps even more important – stimulate young start-up companies in creative industries from Hungary and from Holland to work together. It is sort of a match-making effort but we will also try to create an incubator for these young designers and creative industry people to meet with each other. The Moholy-Nagy University in Budapest and the design university in Eindhoven already have a long-standing cooperation that we will put even more focus on at this event. Photography, modern art and literature will also be highlighted,” the Ambassador adds. A good example of the latter is a three-day writers’ forum in the Bródy House next to the National Museum in Budapest at the end of May. Hungarian writers like Péter Esterházy and György Spiró will meet with prominent Dutch writers like Arnon Grunberg and Jaap Scholten and read from their works. The Embassy helps Hungarian culture, also. The ambassador reminds us that “the love for gypsy music and traditional Hungarian songs has a long tradition in the Netherlands, since the 1920s when the interest in Hungary

HUNGARY

93,028 sq km 110 9,919,128 (July 2014 est.) 90 -0.21% (2014 est.) 214 9.26 births/1,000 population 214 75.46 years 93 1.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population 55 $19,800 (2013 est.) 71 10.5% (2013 est.) 112 11,580,000 (2012) 67 41 (2013) 104

THE NETHERLANDS

41,543 sq km 135 16,877,351 (July 2014 est). 66 0.42% (2014 est.) 161 10.83 births/1,000 population 181 81.12 years 22 1.97 migrant(s)/1,000 population 48 $41,400 (2013 est.) 24 6,8% (2013 est.) 71 19,643,000 (2012) 25 29 (2013) 120

started to grow there. Many of the Dutch student fraternities set up their own little gypsy music bands. They still exist, bearing a name like ‘csárdás’ or ‘puszta’. This type of music is under commercial pressure in Hungary nowadays as it is more and more difficult for these ensembles, especially the larger ones, to survive. The Dutch Embassy tries to help keep this Hungarian tradition alive by setting up and supporting a dedicated foundation.

In the service for 36 years Gajus Scheltema was born in the United States as his father was a delegate to the United Nations there. As a law graduate of the University of Leiden, he entered into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and has subsequently served his country on three continents in various positions before taking up his first ambassadorial position in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1997. Since then, he has also been ambassador in Amman, Jordan and Islamabad, Pakistan. During this latter service, he even published in the journal of the zoological society of Pakistan. “I briefly came to local fame in the field of ornithology but I can reassure you that’s never going to happen again,” he smiles. This current posting in Budapest, he says, gives him the opportunity also to revive contacts with old colleagues he got to know in his previous positions. Cherishing the great Dutch tradition of cycling, Ambassador Scheltema also cultivates this activity. The Hungarian Cyclists’ Club made a video about him bicycling to work from his residence in the Buda hills (see video via QR code on page 16). His predecessor as Dutch ambassador to Hungary, Robert Milders was also a great supporter of cycling in Hungary. He tragically passed away while on vacation back in Holland in the summer of 2012. The Central European University in Budapest has organized a special series of lectures in his

Although Ambassador Scheltema has only been here for 6-7 months, he has already made several trips to the countryside and has “several things planned on my calendar because I feel I should spend more time outside the capital, as well, despite the fact that Budapest holds you like a magnet and it’s very hard to escape from it.” He visited the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen whose university accommodates one of the three Dutch faculties in Hungary (the other two being in Budapest: at ELTE University and the Gáspár Károli University). Another town in the countryside he visited was Kecskemét to open an exhibition of modern Dutch abstract art. Plans in the near future include a trip to Eger in the northeastern part of the country and to Szeged. “My family lives in Holland but whenever they are here, I’m afraid, they like to stay in Budapest and I’m the guy who wants to go outside the city. One of the attractions for my daughters is the Sziget Festival, an event that attracts some 15,000 Dutch youngsters – a number far exceeding that of the Germans, for instance – every year with special trains coming from the Netherlands for this occasion in the summer. It is a magnet for young Dutch people” – a magnet that also attracted Ambassador Scheltema on the day of his arrival to Budapest last August as it happened to be the last day of the 2013 Sziget Festival. Still regarding Budapest, he hopes that the City Park Alley, which was called – after the Dutch monarch – Queen Wilhemina Street between 1921 and 1950, will be named after her again in the future, with special regard to the fact that after 1956, she supported the children of many Hungarians who fled to the Netherlands after the crushing of the antiStalinist uprising. Regarding other attractions, “I would like to compliment the Hungarian wines. I was here in 1970 (visiting a friend whose father was the Dutch ambassador then) and I remember Egri Bikavér from those days. I also remember that it was the wine that sometimes gave me a bit of a headache. You have come a long way to achieve such an impressive Hungarian wine culture. I know the owner of the Liszkay Estate just north of Lake Balaton. He tells me that when he bought the land, there were already vines there but he had to root them all out and start planting anew, that is, to start from scratch. That may be, in a way, symbolic for Hungary: sometimes, you have to start from scratch,” he concludes.

BORN IN THE U.S.A. BY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Source: World Factbook

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Keep in Touch with the Dutch DUTCH CHAMBER TO PROMOTE AND FACILITATE ECONOMIC TIES The Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce (Dutcham), celebrating its 12th anniversary this year, is full of plans and positive energy. Paul Stolk, Chair of the Board of Directors, tells Diplomacy & Trade about the recent changes and plans for 2014. “Since its foundation in 2002, our Chamber has evolved into one of the most vibrant business communities in Budapest. Our mission is to promote and facilitate economic ties between Hungary and the Netherlands, and to provide a platform for the exchange of views and experiences between Dutch and Hungarian companies. Our close cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Embassy Budapest, the Hungarian Business Network (HBN), the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary and the Dutch Club also has a big impact on the quality of our services,” he explains. With an estimated 13% of FDI and an export of more than EUR 2.6 bn in 2012 to Hungary, the Netherlands has long been a key player in the Hungarian economy. Stolk says he has a twofold feeling after all the changes by the government in the past 4 years. “On one hand, it is great that they try to find alternative ways to fight the crisis, but on the other hand, companies and people feel

insecure because the past rules of the game have changed. The government seems to have a greater influence on the business life. Now, after the last election, comes the moment of truth, the government has a 2/3 majority again and the economy is slowly starting to recover. The question is whether the government will support the growth of all businesses, or will they only support the ones that are in their interest.” Dutcham offers its members a platform to

exchange views and know-how between Dutch and Hungarian companies and other international investors. The Chair mentions that “last year and also this spring was quite busy, with 45 events. We continued with our successful Real Estate Seminar, fueled some ‘Positive Energy’ at the HR seminar, expanded our knowledge of Employer Branding and received up-to-date insight to the details of the new Civil Code. We continuously try to come up with new

event ideas like the ‘Breakfast at my Company’ series that started in 2012 and was hosted by several companies including Philips. A great example of our integration with other cultures/nations is the Business Lunch series co-organized by another business association, resulting in a colorful group of people.” Besides their own periodic events, Dutcham is pleased to join other Chambers’ events, like the Speed Business Meetings. As a committed promoter of corporate social responsibility, the chamber enjoys the support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy regarding these activities. Stolk says they were very proud to welcome Prof. dr. Jan Peter Balkenende, former Dutch Prime Minister “to hold a speech on water management at our annual CSR Seminar in 2012. In 2013 the Chamber invited other CSR experts from multinationals like Heineken, Philips, Unilever and KLM to exchange thoughts about Sustainable and Responsible Business Models.” In conclusion, he notes that “as you can see, we are a very active chamber with colorful activities, so it’s time to expand your circle of contacts of business and join our upcoming events where you can also meet our new executive, Beáta Rakos-Szegleti.”

The Dutch Interlocutor

Netherlands is the 3rd biggest investor in Hungary with some EUR 12 bn investment stock in 2012 and the 12th biggest trade partner for Hungary. The volume of bilateral trade has reached EUR 4.3 bn in 2013 (EUR 1.8 bn as Dutch imports and EUR 2.6 bn as Dutch exports. The major commodities are machines (printers, TVs, telecom equipment, cars), making up 55% of the Dutch export in 2012, followed by food products with 14%, nonedible raw materials (8%) and chemicals (7%). “The Embassy publishes a newsletter on a

monthly basis, giving a short overview of our main activities and providing major economic developments in Hungary that can be interesting for our readers. The target group is mainly Dutch business people active in Hungary, but ministries and branch organizations in the Netherlands are also among our readers. After some internal restructuring at the Embassy we have recently decided to up-date and streamline the format of the newsletter in order to increase focus on the above mentioned priority sectors,” the department head explains.

According to Embasy statistics, there are 1,500 registered Dutch companies in Hungary, employing up to 50,000 employees. Embassy staff have many occasions to meet with representatives of these firms. Many companies that want to be active in Hungary come to the Embassy for information/advice. Van der Lingen finds it important to mention that, in general, when Dutch companies decide to enter a market they do it ‘for the long haul’, and not ‘for the quick buck’. The Embassy offers tailor-made support to Dutch companies at the start of their activities on the Hungarian market and actively promotes level playing field circumstances for them. “We are regularly organizing CEO lunches where general economic and trade topics are discussed with representatives of the Hungarian government. Hungary’s attractive features are the good infrastructure and the well-educated workforce at competitive salary levels. Our activities center around Budapest, as most of our Dutch companies are concentrated around the capital, but of course we also regularly visit companies in the countryside,” Bert van der Lingen concludes.

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“The Royal Dutch Embassy is concentrating on economic and socio-political activities where it can provide added value. The priority sectors in the economic-commercial sphere are water management, transports and logistics, sustainable energy, and creative industries,” the head of the Political and Economic Department, Bert van der Lingen explains to Diplomacy & Trade. Apart from supporting Dutch companies in those sectors, the Embassy is also trying to gain effective inroads at governmental, county and local levels so as to bring Dutch approaches and companies to the attention of our Hungarian contacts. He adds that the Embassy is also prepared to act as an interlocutor between the Dutch business community and the Hungarian authorities in case questions arise concerning the Hungarian business and investment climate and on specific issues. Our basic attitude in our contacts with our Hungarian counterparts is that we always strive for partnership on an equal footing. Van der Lingen considers bilateral economic relations as traditionally good. The

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THE EMBASSY ECONOMIC DEPARTMENT FOR ENHANCING BILATERAL RELATIONS

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Founded in Eindhoven in 1891 by Anton & Gerard Philips, and still headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. It posted 2013 sales of EUR 23.3 billion and employs approximately 115,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The firm came to Hungary in 1989, at the ‘dawn’ of the change in the political, social and economic system in this country, being one of the first of the multinational companies making this challenging step. As Tamás Sellyey, General Manager of Philips Lighting Hungary and representative of Philips Hungary at business communities and events, tells Diplomacy & Trade, “Philips made a very strong debut in Hungary with all three main branches, that is, Philips Consumer Lifestyle (domestic appliances and personal care), Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems) and Philips Lighting.” Later, until about a decade ago, Philips had a much wider manufacturing capacity in Hungary than now, producing consumer electronics items like televisions, car audio and microelectronic components.

A real estate expert with a different hat

PHILIPS SET TO IMPROVE THE LIFE OF BILLIONS

commercial property market (the remainder for use in households and as components used by other companies). A manager who knows well the real estate business and has the necessary network of contacts to make use of in the future at Philips Lighting.”

Fields of innovation Consumer Lifestyle is still an important and significant business area for the company, but on the other hand Philips is positioning itself as a leading Health and Wellbeing company, with global Nr.1 position in Lighting and also > PHILIPS LIGHTING AT ITS BEST For years, the Budapest Opera House did not have the decorative lighting to match its prestige – until Philips (in cooperation with Lisys Co. Ltd.) provided this illuminating solution at the end of 2012.

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Dávid Harangozó, Courtesy of Philips Hungary

Tamás Sellyey stresses that he is not a lighting but a real estate professional who had worked in the area of investment, development and consultancy of commercial properties (shopping centers, office buildings, logistics parks, hotels) for almost 15 years. He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a global organization of real estate experts worldwide. “I was found for this present job with the idea of bringing to this position someone with a thinking not rooted in this industry. Someone with a new, fresh way of looking at business, a real estate person, since Philips Lighting realizes the majority of its sales come from the area of

Geared to Innovation

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as a leading innovator in several fields of the Healthcare business. In the latter area, the company – a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare – produces, among others, PET/CT (of which one of the most modern types in the world has been developed by Philips) as well as MRI, CT, traditional and digital X-ray appliances, ultra-sound devices and home monitoring health devices. In Hungary, two of these Philips PET/CT machines are in use in several hospitals and clinics. The outdoor branch in lighting scored great successes by supplying the lighting of three new football stadiums (Felcsút, Debrecen, Ferencváros) recently. The main secret of success is that Philips has a product of unbeatable quality in this sector, the ‘ArenaVision’ stadium lighting technology system. It has been installed at stadiums for the majority of football events in the past 15 years as well as in the Asia Games and Olympic Games in Beijing and London. “Philips began to develop ArenaVision back in the 1950s and with additional innovations every 3-5 years, it has developed into a product that the market rivals cannot copy. Also, 9 of the 12 football stadiums at this year’s World Cup in Brazil kick-off with Philips lighting.” Sellyey says. The current trend in lighting worldwide is definitely the use of

LED luminaires. It is already the most important element in lighting technology and experts believe that its current share of 25% will grow to 75% in the next ten years. Philips lighting products sold in Hungary are manufactured mainly in Poland, Britain and France. (In Százhalombatta, just south of Budapest, the company has a regional distribution center to supply Hungary and neighboring countries.) In addition, Philips manufactures a large volume of products in China under strict quality assurance of its own.

Dutch business philosophy at Philips The General Manager points out that “the company has three basic principles: ‘eager to win’, ‘take ownership’ and ‘team up to excel’. All our directives are built on these principles. Also represented in the wider spectrum of Dutch business mentality are diversity, tolerance and the entrepreneurship to always seek new ideas and challenges,” Sellyey, also a board member of the Dutch-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, points out. As for the company’s social responsibility policy, he says “we like to support issues that have longterm effects. Fundamentally, Philips is a company geared to innovation. Our new motto says ‘Innovation and You’, which means we endeavor to make everyday life better for people

in all three of our main branches. Philips has set the aim to influence the life of three billion people by 2025 in one way or another. In Hungary, the general principles of sustainability are priorities. We are working towards a zero environment footprint in production. We are founding members of the organization that collects used domestic appliances and luminaries. In 2013, we had an environmental conference in Hungary attended by the head of global sustainability operations at the Amsterdam headquarters of Philips, as well as the former Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende. This year, we also plan to support and attend a conference – this time on water management issues.” The importance of green certification of buildings – especially that of office buildings – is growing and Philips is moving in the direction of providing energy efficient lighting solutions that result in substantial energy savings. This is mainly achieved with the use of LED lighting. “’Beyond the fact that this technology gives you an 80% saving in electricity, these ‘light bulbs’ do not have injurants and their lifespan is much longer than that of their predecessors, making them a much better option from the viewpoint of both investment and environment protection,” Tamás Sellyey concludes.

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Dutch and Jewish Culture at Spinoza House SPINOZA HOUSE DIRECTOR HONORED FOR DEEPENING DUTCH-HUNGARIAN TIES At the Dutch King`s Day reception on April 28, Spinoza House director Anna Sándor received a Knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau. “This was the first time that the Budapest Residence of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands witnessed a knighting ceremony, and both Ambassador Gajus Scheltema and I were rather touched,” says Sándor, a former economic correspondent of NRC Handelsblad and author of several books, including her latest that was published for the 10th anniversary of the opening of Spinoza House. “It is an illuminating enterprise history,” she says. Given that the author graduated in economics and psychology, and had no experience in catering or theatre business, the launch of Spinoza House, which is, in fact, a café, restaurant, gallery and theater, all in one, was a brave decision. But isn’t bravery one of the merits of knights? So, Sándor successfully opened Spinoza House 11 years ago in the heart of Budapest, neighboring Gozsdu Yard and the famous Dohány Street Synagogue, and ever since, the institute has been spicing up the cultural life

of the capital with a wide range of programs. These programs often come with HungarianDutch and Jewish links. “We are trying to exploit every opportunity to make the place one of the gems of Budapest, especially in the Jewish quarter where – before the Second World War –some 50 cafés, cabarets, and restaurants guaranteed constant fizzle and hosted different cultural programs,” the owner notes, revealing how long it took her to find a name for the multi-culture and multi-function institute. “I was looking for something that could be linked to both the Netherlands and Judaism as well as convey a

liberal and open way of thinking. I finally decided in favor of the 17th century philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, who came from a Jewish merchant family that immigrated to the Netherlands from Portugal. Due to his liberal way of thinking, he was excluded from the Jewish community.” Spinoza is not only preserved in the name of the institution, but also on the plaque placed on the house, which was sponsored by Sándor, and remains ever since the one and only Dutch monument in town. Spinoza House offers, during the theatre season, musical and theatrical performances, literary reading nights, lectures, fine art exhibitions, and the theaterchamber hall with 70 seats is always full of attendants. So is the restaurant that has a great old piano placed in its center, played by an even older pianist every night. “We have two old pianists, actually,” Sándor corrects me, “Let’s say that altogether they are more than 160 years old, and know at least 10,000 songs. And I’m not exaggerating.” “Now that you received royal decoration, what’s next?” Sándor is asked. “Drama,” she laughs, explaining that indeed, she’s to leave soon for

Tel-Aviv and Amsterdam, working on a drama on Theodore Herzl and Max Nordau, the two men often referred to as the fathers of modern Zionism and the State of Israel.

The Dutch Club of Budapest

he points out. “Dutch people make up a pretty big community in Hungary. Of course, we do not have exact – or even approximate – official figures but rumors are that there could be some 10,000 Dutch living in this country, about 1,300 of them in Budapest,” he says. As for club events, he highlights the ‘monthly drinks’ get-together. Annual core events

include a family gathering at Easter, attended by 80-85 people, and one in early December for Santa Claus. “We have also recently organized a Royal Dutch Party to celebrate King’s Day. Also annually, we have the Smart Lap festivities, a kind of ‘schlager’ festival with typical Dutch songs and usually with a mystery guest, a well-known singer from Holland, and well over a hundred people

attending.” The focus now is on the soccer World Cup in Brazil as Dutch are generally active supporters of the national soccer team. The Dutch club has a membership base of around 100 people. Half of them are ex-pats, usually businessmen and their families and the other half are local Dutch or Dutchrelated Hungarians. Rob Gaal is the President of the Board. He fills this position as a volunteer as do those members who handle activities like finance, administration, sponsoring, PR/communications and event coordination. He came to Hungary ten years ago to work for an international direct marketing agency. After four years, he started his own consultancy, training and coaching company. “I have a Hungarian wife whom I met in Amsterdam where we both used to work and live. After the birth of our first daughter, we decided to move to Hungary to be close to family and relatives and our second daughter was born here.” As he puts it, his hardware is Hungarian and his software is mainly Dutch: a Dutch-born Hungarian as “both of my parents are Hungarian, my father left Hungary in 1956 while my mother left in 1967” – a fine profile to lead the process of change within the Dutch Club.

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In the first half of the 1990s, a lot of Dutch business people came to Hungary to work for international companies like ING, Douwe Egberts, Unilever, Shell, ABN-Amro Bank or to set up businesses. An informal social club was set up for them to get together, exchange ideas/knowledge and have fun. “Many social events were organized like tennis tournaments, car rallies and monthly cocktail gatherings. 99% of those attending these social activities were ex-pats,” the President of the Dutch Club in Budapest, Rob Gaal explains to Diplomacy & Trade. “The Dutch Club was officially formed in 1995, so, we celebrate our 20th anniversary next year,” he adds. He observes that the ex-pat community is decreasing. Accordingly, the Dutch Club has also changed from a typical ex-pat social club to a more blended association. “A lot of Dutch people are permanent residents in this country either because of marriage with a Hungarian partner, or they are established medium/small business owners or just living in Hungary to enjoy the more favorable weather conditions and life style, or many are seniors who enjoy their Dutch retirement here in Hungary. One can really consider these as ‘local’ Dutch people in this country,”

Courtesy picture, Dávid Harangozó

MEMBERSHIP WITH LESS EX-PATS AND MORE DUTCH HUNGARIANS

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Fleet Management and Drivers’ Mobility LEASEPLAN CELEBRATES TWO DECADES IN HUNGARY a replacement car. At the end of the contract, we take the car back from the client and sell it at the best possible value through an electronic auction system that has about 70 car traders registered with it, dealers who have signed our ethics guidelines. As LeasePlan is present in 30 countries, sometimes these cars are entered into our international auction, generating the best possible prices for the used cars” the Managing Director explains.

“It was in May 1994 that LeasePlan started its operations in Hungary. LeasePlan at that time was expanding heavily into Eastern Europe and other countries; we basically had a start-up every year. Hungary was a logical choice as it was one of the forerunners in implementing social and economic changes. At that time, operational lease was totally new to the Hungarian market and that was one of the keys to our successful debut into this market,” the Managing Director (MD) of LeasePlan Hungary Plc., Roelof Hansman explains to Diplomacy & Trade.

Loyalty surveys

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Steady growth of business LeasePlan Hungary saw steady growth until about 2003 when business really picked up; it was then that LeasePlan signed several contracts with public entities like the state railways MÁV and the Police. “The high point of our business was in 2006-7 after which some momentum was lost mainly due to a conscious choice to decrease our participation in these public deals. However, the subsequent crisis did not decrease our fleet nor the volume of our business.. In the last four years, our figures have been stable with a growth period starting at the end of last year and in early 2014,” he adds. LeasePlan is managing 9.500 vehicles (passenger cars and light commercial vehicles under 3.5 tons) for its clients. As the MD points out, “we are the leaders in the operational leasing market in Hungary. Major clients include IBM, E.On, AstraZeneca, Mars, Diageo, Citibank, Invitel as well as many smaller ones, basically from all areas of business in Hungary. LeasePlan employs around 70 people in this country. Operational lease and fleet management is our core competence as is reducing costs for our clients. Service is done with a wide network of service partners with which agreements are signed based on service level and pricing.” The top 25 companies who have been with LeasePlan for an average of just over ten years represent some 80% of the company’s volume. “Almost 20% of our clients

have been with us for over ten years and almost 10% for over 15 years, which is a clear sign of trust,” he stresses.

The leasing process Leasing a vehicle from LeasePlan starts as the driver – or the fleet manager – selects a car based on a car policy worked out by the client and supported by LeasePlan which has a lot of experience in designing car policies. The car policy allocates appropriate cars to different employee levels in the company, based also on the individual requirements clients may have, like employee satisfaction, costs and even the environmental aspects such as CO2 emission. Then, Hansman says, “we make a quotation for the car that includes all the possible costs based on our calculations. This also includes the residual value that we know the vehicle will be worth at the end of the lease contract. If, during the contract, the client and LeasePlan were able to generate savings (for example by working with preferred

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suppliers) and the actual costs are lower than the budgeted costs, we share the savings with the client. If the deal produces less favorable figures, for whatever reason, we take the risk and the possible loss, as well. Very often, we send not just one but 10 or 20 quotations for the client to choose from among various options and conditions. The client signs for one, we order the car from one of our preferred partners where we know and have agreed on the pricing, the quality, service level, etc. Usually, the car arrives within a few months, we hand it over to the client, we make sure the car is registered and insured.” A welcome package awaits the driver with information on who to contact at LeasePlan in case of emergency and how to find our mobile application developed for the clients. In case service is needed, the client goes to the appropriate garage that sends LeasePlan an approval request. “If there are damages, we take care of roadside assistance and arrange for

Worldwide, LeasePlan annually commissions a loyalty survey of driver satisfaction and of client satisfaction conducted by TNS, a well-known market research agency. In Hungary, 500 drivers are interviewed, as well as a hundred (contact persons of the) clients that constitute close to 25% of the firm’s total client portfolio. The Managing Director states that “the 2013 survey shows that over 95% of our clients are satisfied or very satisfied with our services. Amongst other things, the clients are satisfied with our reporting tools, our speed of quotations and our cost savings advices. In the last couple of years, we have worked a lot on our complaint management service and

> A N N I V E R S A R Y : The company celebrated its 20th anniversary in Hungary in Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts with a grand party.

now we have very good response on that. We want to make fleet management for our clients and mobility for drivers easier. Basically, what we live for is to reduce costs for our clients and make mobility easier. We also have a regular survey of employee satisfaction and – based on this - I daresay that our people feel really at home and are committed to LeasePlan.” “We have a pretty open company culture, we pay a lot of attention to

our employee engagement, we are quite transparent, we don’t have a very hierarchical system, a lot of people can have an influence on decisions,” Hansman says. “As I’ve said, we have managed to keep our business at the same level during the last three years. Given the economic circumstances, not to decrease in turnover has been a sign of strength. We have also moved from being dependent on a few big companies to diversifying our client portfolio. We see more and more requests for quotations, which we believe is driven also by an improvement in the business sentiment in Hungary,” he adds.

CSR The Managing Director stresses that “social responsibility starts with your own staff. We try to support initiatives of our staff to the greatest extent possible. Then, we have one or two specific projects every year. For instance, last year, we were cleaning and painting a school. The year before, we were in the village of Biatorbágy, just outside Budapest, supporting a little daycare center for young, slightly handicapped people. It was great to go there with our staff to clean the garden and paint the building and just be there with these people who were very thankful for what we did. Three years ago, we did similar work in an orphanage in the Buda hills, and also built a small basketball court there. We have also had some individual actions. Four years ago, during the great floods that hit the country, we filled a minivan, which we had in stock, with goods – mainly water and food – we collected from our employees and drove it to those in need.” Speaking on behalf of his family, Roelof Hansman – whose other 20th anniversary this year is that of his marriage with his Swedish wife – says “we like Budapest very much, it is a very nice city to live in; it is very easy to live here. The climate is very nice – definitely nicer than at my previous two postings, the Netherlands and Düsseldorf, Germany. The Dutch society here also has a lot of activities. We do a lot of things together – this June, we are very much looking forward to watching the football World Cup broadcasts on big screens!”

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From Cloth Trade to Erasmus SEVEN CENTURIES OF HUNGARIAN-DUTCH RELATIONS BY THE DUTCH DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN

The historical relations between Hungary and the Low Countries have existed for several centuries. Dating as back to the 13th and 14th century, cloth was delivered from Flanders to Hungary with the help of Prussian merchants. Hungary also exported several products to the markets of the Low Countries, mainly raw material, brass, precious metal, iron, beeswax and rawhide. During the 15th century, political and cultural relations began to pick up between the two countries. Mary, the widow of King Louis II of Hungary, became governor of the Low Countries (the Habsburg Netherlands at that time) on behalf of her brother, Charles V from 1531 to 1555. Miklós Oláh, who would later become the Archbishop of Esztergom, kept up a correspondence with the most famous scholars of the time, including Erasmus of Rotterdam. Later, Oláh introduced a high-level educational culture in Nagyszombat (known today as Trnava, Slovakia) and developed the regional centre of studia humanitatis in Pozsony (Bratislava). During the Bocskai revolt (1604-1606), Hungary received diplomatic support from the Dutch. The main task of the Dutch diplomats was to organize a Protestant insurrection against the Habsburgs, whom the Dutch fought in their own War of Independence

Nowadays, the Erasmus student exchange program offers a great opportunity to students who wish to study in another European country. Within the framework of this program, Dutch majors can choose to study at universities in the Netherlands and Flanders, while Hungarian universities become increasingly popular among Dutch students.

STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN have had an opportunity

> T H E D U T C H D E P A R T M E N T : second from the left is the head of the department, Dr Gábor Pusztai.

(1568-1648). During the 17th and 18th centuries, Hungarian-Dutch relations flourished. Over these two centuries, more than 2,000, mostly Protestant students from Hungary and Transylvania studied at the universities of the Netherlands. Dutch educational institutions provided the Hungarian students with considerable financial support to continue their studies, and, at the same time, made it possible for the Protestant Church to strengthen its Eastern bridgehead.

After the First World War, Dutch families provided homes for Hungarian children so that they could recover and safely return to their families back in Hungary. With the help of the so-called children-trains, more than 20,000 children were transported to the Netherlands between 1921 and 1926. A similar mission took place after the Second World War, but due to the Communist takeover, only one train was allowed to set off in 1948. The Netherlands provided home for about 3,000 Hungarian refugees in 1956.

to learn Dutch at the Dutch Department since 1991. Since then, a wide range of curriculums have been initiated, including Dutch major studies in 1999. This five-year-long program was replaced by the Dutch Bachelor Studies in 2007. Since September 2013, the Department also offers a translatorinterpreter Master Study for those who want to deepen their knowledge of the Dutch language and culture. The Dutch Department provides students with high-level education and plenty of extra-curricular activities including cultural programs, conferences, study trips and exchange programs with the help of which they can complete part of their studies at Dutch and Flemish universities, as well as at Dutch educational institutions of Central Europe. Graduates have outstanding opportunities in the labor market.

Rembrandt and Dutch Golden Age Paintings Start spreading the news: one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of Rembrandt and Dutch Golden Age Paintings will be held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest from the end of October until the middle of February 2015. “Our collection of the old Dutch Masters of the 17th century, with 500 works, is the largest in Europe outside The Netherlands. And we are proud of it,” says the General Director of the museum, László Baán. The upcoming exhibition is a joint venture of the Museum of Fine Arts with more than 50 renowned public and private collections in Europe and the U.S., including the Louvre in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Uffizi in Florence and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The major lenders are the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (20 paintings) and the National Museum in Stockholm (30 paintings). “Altogether, more than 170 paintings from all over the world will be shown here, among them 20 from

> A R E M B R A N D T : The painting ‘Samson and Delilah’ is one of his most famous pieces.

Rembrandt. Experts in different countries are preparing the exhibition and the catalogue which will include the story of how such a tiny country became a world leader, as well as essays on the historical relations between

Hungary and the Netherlands,” Baán explains. The Golden Age in The Netherlands, the 17th century, was a period of great prosperity, based on rule over the seas and the establishment of the United East Indian Company. A monopoly on trade with most countries in the Far East enabled the Dutch to gather fortunes from which all levels in society benefited. As László Baán highlights, “the exhibition will be displayed in seven thematic units. To begin with, there will be the historical background showing the naval battles that brought the United Provinces of The Netherlands independence. The second part is the genre of Dutch portraiture with images of the rich and self-confident bourgeoisie, group portraits of various military and professional groups and intimate images of couples and families. All the great masters will be represented by their works such as Frans Hals, Nicolas Eliasz and Johannes Mijtens.” He adds that “the third unit will focus on the riches painted by Pieter Claesz, Willem Heda, Abraham van Beijeren and Willem Kalf; still

lifes showing flowers, dinner tables and food and merry guests banqueting in luxurious environments painted by Willem Buytewech, Dirck Hals and Jan Steen. The fourth part of the exhibition will be devoted to religious art in protestant homes and catholic churches. In the fifth unit, the exhibition will focus on Rembrandt and his impact on Dutch art. There will be 20 paintings by Rembrandt himself and several works by his pupils and followers. Cities and urban life will be the subject of the sixth unit. Wealth that was gathered through maritime industry and trade showed itself in the lifestyle of the Dutch citizens. Every day scenes of churches, markets, stock exchanges, synagogues, town houses and homes by the canals were painted by Pieter Saenredam, Emanuel de Witte, Jan van der Heyden and Gabriel Metsu. But it is Johannes Vermeer who is known world-wide for his private and intimate images. Last but not least is the section devoted to Dutch landscapes. These real-life works were composed in the atelier, occasionally recorded in drawings,” concludes László Baán concludes.

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BY MARIA DOUWES

Courtesy picture, Rijksmuseum

A UNIQUE EXHIBITION YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS

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Caring for Associates and Guests Alike NEW DUTCH GENERAL MANAGER AT BUDAPEST MARRIOTT HOTEL Somewhat surprisingly, Diplomacy & Trade was received by General Manager Rick Enders at the Budapest Marriott Hotel in chef’s attire which, – as it turned out – had not much to do with his food and beverage background. “No, I’m not in the kitchen much. However, it definitely happens once a year when we have the ‘associate appreciation week’, when I always volunteer to cook lunch and dinner for all our associates. I started my career in the kitchen,” he explains. That start was back in 1988 in the United States. Then came more kitchen work but higher up the corporate ladder in London and the German cities of Frankfurt and Bremen. In the latter, Rick Enders was promoted to head of food and beverages. His subsequent postings were in Dubai, Cairo, Britain, Shanghai, Zurich and Warsaw. From early 2006, he spent eight years in the Czech Republic, mostly in Prague. Rick Enders took over as General

Manager in charge of the Budapest Marriott Hotel, and the Millennium Court, Marriott Executive Apartments in mid-March this year. “We basically have a brand new hotel after a major reconstruction

over the past eight years. People are very open here and very friendly,” he says. Dutch people are known for being direct. “I think we are considered as ‘not going around the bush’, so, if

there’s something that we don’t like, we say so. Directness is sometimes a strength but it can sometimes be a weakness, as well. It is always a matter adjustment. I need to get adjusted to the culture here and people need to get adjusted to my management style. If I see something that is not correct, I fix it myself and not necessarily go to the next manager about it,” he summarizes his management philosophy. He stresses that “Year after year, Marriott Rewards wins the top award as best loyalty program in the industry. It is certainly a great benefit for those who travel a lot. At the same time, we have the Preference Plus, an exclusive program conceived specially for those in charge of making reservations and organizing events and meetings for their executives, that is, the secretaries and assistants of local companies.” In corporate social responsibility, Marriott chose many years ago to work with SOS Children’s Village for

orphaned or abandoned children in all countries where the chain operates in Europe. “It is not only a matter of financial support but we also try to attract these children and young adults into the hotel business to help them with a future careers, by organizing training programs or just simply making them acquainted with some of the professions – from the kitchen to engineering or repairs/maintenance – we have in this business. We also provide additional awareness of the society that SOS Children’s Village is a good cause. I take my hat off to all the foster parents who take these kids in and treat them like their own children,” he says. There are a lot of benefits for the employees, as well. Their importance as pillars of the company has already been recognized by the founder of the company who created the slogan of the Marriott philosophy: ‘take great care of your associates so that they are able to take great care of your customers’.

Business Class Services – a New Episode in Flight

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Bianka Májay, Courtesy of KLM

Air France-KLM is one of the most important airlines in Hungary. Since customer comfort in Business Class services are very important for both Air France and KLM, there have been a lot of innovations in this field. We asked Olivier Hours, Air France-KLM General Manager for the CEE region to summarize the most important novelties. What is behind Air France-KLM Business Class service improvements? More comfort and efficiency. Our business class passengers revealed a clear need for a better, more comfortable service to be able to work or relax on board. We are delighted to be able to meet our customers’ needs by offering them vastly improved, brand new, and comfortable products. Last year, KLM presented its new World Business Class (WBC) cabin interior, featuring the new full-flat seat. What does it offer? Optimum comfort. It can be reclined horizontally so the passenger can lie fully flat. The seat position in the cabin and the partition between television screens ensure greater

privacy for passengers. There are also storage compartments in the seats beside the passengers and under the television screens. The aim is to assure for our customers a sustainable, luxurious, and welldesigned air travel. As you mentioned, sustainability is another point of focus for KLM in all new developments. Yes, the new design, therefore, had to be innovative as well as sustainable. In meeting this requirement, our designer sought new solutions within the existing options available to the airline industry. KLM recycles all of its discarded carpets in collaboration with carpet manufacturer Desso based on the cradle-to-cradle

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principle. This is in line with the CSR policy KLM has pursued for years. Just few weeks ago, at an exceptional event in Shanghai, Air France unveiled its new La Première suite. The next stage of its vast project to move upmarket with its long-haul 'Best and Beyond' product, the La Première suite will progressively equip 19 Air France Boeing 777-300s as from September 2014. What are the advantages and key dimensions? The new La Première suit is more than just a seat; it is a private suite, a veritable jewel. On board, each suite ensures optimum privacy in absolute comfort. Well-being, relaxation and serenity go hand in

hand, for an exceptional trip. Each guest has a personal 24-inch (61 cm) HD touch screen, one of the largest ever seen on board. Opposite the seat, a comfortable seat, an ottoman, enables the passenger to invite a guest for dinner or simply for a conversation. The suite in turn then becomes a drawing room, a dining room or a work area. Anything goes in this space which changes according to the passenger’s comfort and desires. What are Air France-KLM plans for the future? For us, flying is a passion. We would like to maintain our market leader position and continue to invest in service to our customers. Air France currently operates 9 Airbus A380 aircraft and will also be the operator of the latest generation Airbus A350 in the coming years while KLM has placed an order for Boeing B787 Dreamliners. This continuous fleet renewal signifies our aim to further improve customer satisfaction. (x)

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Budapest to Amsterdamize? BIKING WINS THE HEART OF HUNGARIANS “Races are coming your way, so forget all your duties, oh yeah…” Do these lines ring a bell? Speaking of which, did you know that it is mandatory to have a bell on your bike, at least in Hungary?

DID YOU KNOW? Budapest has introduced the bike share program “Bubi” with 1,100 bikes in 76 stations.

> BIKES

> BIKER-FRIENDLY BUDAPEST The late Ambassador Robert Milders along with Botond Melles, Country Manager in Hungary for Air France KLM, opening a bike station in Budapest’s District 8, Astoria, in 2010.

“It all began with a handful of cycling demonstrators in Budapest in the mid-2000s, who came together to demonstrate for a more bicycle-friendly infrastructure,” organizers say. “Soon, thousands of

AND MOVIES:

Hungary is becoming Europe’s new Hollywood. Budapest, a genuine chameleon with its eclectic style, can be and has been ‘sold’ as Berlin, Paris, London, Rome and Buenos Aires so far. This year’s Movilfest is to introduce a sightseeing tour to entice you into the saddle. Find out more on the filming locations of Evita, Spy Game, Munich and Die Hard, to name only a few blockbusters shot in the Hungarian capital. What is Movilfest? It is an international mobile device and innovation festival which is looking for works that are made with or for mobile devices. Find out more here: movilfestbudapest.com

bike enthusiasts stood with us, and in the recent years, we managed to organize mass rallies, traditionally launched by a Dutch diplomat, including the late Robert Milders, often referred to as the Bike Ambassador. The final CM event last spring reached an unprecedented scale of nearly 100 thousand participants, making it the largest rally of its kind in the world. The promising signs of the infrastructural shift are already visible, the number of cycle paths in Budapest is on the rise.” As BBC correspondent Nick Thorpe put it a

few years back in his article, “eight years of successful lobbying by the Budapest Critical Mass group and the Hungarian Cyclists Association have turned cycling in the capital from an extreme sport, into a normal and relatively safe means of transport.” As the number of cyclists in everyday traffic has actually reached a critical mass, CM organizers want to refocus their energies on ‘serious’ lobbying with concrete aims – and have urged CM followers to join a local cycling NGO.

Bikes on show Another campaign entitled ‘Bike to Work’, organised by the Hungarian Cyclist Club (www.bam.hu) is gaining more and more ground every year, too. “We can say that this environmentally friendly and healthy form of transport is

AMBASSADOR SCHELTEMA BICYCLES TO WORK IN THE BUDA HILLS

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There are quite a number of cyclists on the streets of Budapest these days. Some 190 kilometers of bicycle routes have been built for them. Bike share programs have been introduced at numerous locations in town. We have just seen bikes on the red carpet, too, during a fashion show at Gozsdu Yard. Organized jointly by InStyle magazine and the crew of the blog Cyclechic.hu, the event took place on May 23 in search of the beauty and the (on the) bike. A photo contest was also announced for stylish urban cyclists. The main prize (two air tickets to Amsterdam) for the most stylish couple was offered by the Dutch embassy, handed over by Ambassador Gajus Scheltema. “Ride your bike where ever you like to, however you like to,” suggests Cyclechic.hu. “Feel that you own the city. Enjoy every piece of it, because every day is another experience. The bridges, the streets, the houses greet you every morning. Feel like there's no one out there but you, although you are not alone. You need nothing else other than yourself and your bike.” It looks like biking culture has started to blossom in Budapest. More and more residents use bikes for their local travel, including the city’s Chief Architect Sándor Finta. No one knows exact numbers, but on a major downtown thoroughfare where bike traffic is monitored, cycling levels have been growing steadily, doubling from 2011 to 2012, and in 2013, even the organizers of the Critical Mass (CM) bike rally, said that the growth of everyday cycling levels has made Critical Mass obsolete, at least in Budapest.

perfectly capable of mobilising masses and shaping identity,” organizers of ‘City of Cyclists, Szabadka (Subotica) – Budapest,’ an ongoing exhibition at the Museum of Ethnography, add. “Open until September 28, our exhibition seeks to popularise the bicycle, a defining feature of urban life that represents freedom to many. It explores the role of this everday object used in urban settings, and seeks answers to a variety of social questions, for instance, how a vehicle so firmly fixed in the realm of the mundane can have emerged as a symbol for such a wide variety of communities and subcultures. In addition to presenting a line of bike shops and repair shops, the exhibition offers insight into the history of the bicycle, the Hungarian Csepel Factory and Manfréd Weiss, and also presents info on various cycling events, including Critical Mass in Budapest and Trimbi in Subotica.” A few years ago, an interesting theater production was staged by a Dutch-Hungarian company of three actors, who fiddled with the fictitious idea of what would happen if a tsunami overwhelmed Holland and the six million Dutch living there were all evacuated to Hungary. What can I say? The process has already begun, without the water level rising, thanks to God. There is a huge number of Dutch people living in Hungary. (They, for some reason, fancy municipalities such as Szentkatalin, Orfû, Boldogasszonyfa, Somogyhárságy and Vásárosbéc in Baranya county and Balatonfôkajár in Veszprém. If they were ever to move to the Hungarian capital, the lack of biking opportunities wouldn’t be a push factor to make them return to the countryside.

Courtesy of Museum of Ethnography, Dávid Harangozó

BY RÉKA A. FRANCISCK

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Finland in Focus at Diplomacy & Trade Club

> THE RESIDENCE OF THE F I N N I S H A M B A S S A D O R Pasi Tuominen was the venue for Diplomacy & Trade ‘The Club’ May meeting. Deputy State Secretary Gergely Prôhle, of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, shared his views regarding the results of the European Parliamentary elections. The event was well attended by the diplomatic and business community.

Argentine Day > C L A U D I O G I A C O M I N O , the Argentine Chargé d’Affaires in Budapest hosted a reception in the Museum of Military History on the occasion of his country’s national day celebrating the ‘Primer Gobierno Patrio’.

Russian Victory Day > R U S S I A N A M B A S S A D O R Alexander Tolkach welcomed guests to his Embassy to celebrate Victory Day of May 9 that marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in World War II.

Polish National Day > P O L I S H A M B A S S A D O R Roman Kowalski welcomed guests at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest to celebrate his country’s Constitution Day and commemorate several anniversaries including 15 years of membership in NATO and 10 years of membership in the European Union.

Indian Exhibition

Dávid Harangozó

> BOOKS AND MENUSCRIPTS BY HUNGARIAN T R A V E L E R S to India, loaned from the National Széchenyi Library in Budapest, were exhibited at the Indian Cultural Center.

Norway’s Constitution Day

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> N O R W E G I A N A M B A S S A D O R Tove Skarstein (seen speaking on the top left picture) welcomed guests, including members of the diplomatic community, in her residence in Budapest to celebrate the 200th anniversary of her country’s Constitution (see more on page 20).

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WITTY

LE A K S

IN OUR SERIES, DIPLOMATS GIVE THEIR PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF THE EXPERIENCES OF THEIR “EXCURSIONS” TO HUNGARIAN CULTURE, ART, GASTRONOMY AND LANDSCAPE.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow HUNGARY AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF ALBANIAN GENERATIONS BY ALBANIAN AMBASSADOR MIRA HOXHA

Yesterday

of taking office as Ambassador, I bow with respect in front of their work and monuments in Hungary. In honor of the events of the 1956 Revolution, and connecting them to the 100th Anniversary of Independence of Albania, in collaboration with the Gloria Victis Foundation, we inaugurated a commemorative plaque in honor of the victims of communism. The plaque is dedicated to the 100 million victims of communism across the world and the revolution for freedom of 1956. During these years of my stay in Budapest, I have had many special moments and achievements, which I would like to share with readers. But since this piece is from my personal perspective, I will only mention the most remarkable event for me: the participation of Prime Minister Orbán as guest of honor in celebrations of the 100th Anniversary of Albanian Independence.

> C O M M E M O R A T I O N S : The Gloria Victis monument in Csömör, NE of Budapest and the 100th anniversary of Albanian Independence.

Stalinists worldwide raged that the uprising was a fascist coup. Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha’s successor, Ramiz Alia wrote years later in his book My Life: "The way events developed in Hungary, could bring serious political consequences in other Eastern European countries, because ‘the Hungarian line’ put into question some of the principles of socialist society, which were related to domestic and foreign policies throughout the Eastern bloc." After the intervention of Soviet troops, Enver Hoxha was euphoric for the turnaround that was occurring in Hungary. During this time, when Budapest was opening the eyes of the world that the foundation of communist dictatorship was shaking, my grandfather was arrested and sentenced for the third time by Enver Hoxha’s communist regime for agitation and propaganda against the people’s power and for the protection of principles of the

Hungarian counter-revolution. This sentence affected not only him and his family but also the ones who were not yet born. Just for the sake of this family biography, if there had been no regime change in Albania, even I would not have had the opportunity to pursue higher education and unquestionably my life journey would have been different.

Today During lessons at school, I met a Hungary that was prosperous with its endless fields, with the Danube running through Budapest and dividing it into two parts, with the largest lake in Central Europe named Balaton. I met a Hungary that was part of the Eastern Bloc and that was much more developed than Albania. As the daughter of a professional football player who had the famous Puskás as his idol, I felt that Hungary was familiar to me. I gradually became aware of the great freedom-loving spirit of the Hungarian people through the patriotic poems of Sándor Petôfi, famous Liszt rhapsodies, Cardinal Mindszenty and the avant-garde ideas of Lajos Kossuth, as the most prominent figures of the Hungarian nation. Since the early days

I see Hungary's main influence in my private life on my children. They are now part of the Hungarian education system. Here, I want to share a personal aspect. When I was appointed as a candidate for Ambassador to Hungary, my daughter refused to join me on this journey because of her connections to her country, her family and friends, as well as lack of information about the new place. I made a pleasure trip with the family to Hungary and, as it happens with every tourist, we were amazed by the panorama that Budapest offered us, full of elegance and fine architecture in almost every building. These buildings bear a type of romanticism that is made even more beautiful by the presence of the Danube, probably the most beautiful river in Europe, which inextricably links such beautiful cities as Vienna, Belgrade, etc. My daughter, impressed by the magnificent view in Budapest during this trip, expressed her desire to become an architect. This desire is becoming a reality today. Hungary occupies a good part of our journey: yesterday, my grandfather suffering in communist prisons; today, I serve as the Ambassador of Albania; and tomorrow, my daughter is a student of architecture in Budapest. This is love transmitted through three generations of my family, which makes me adore Budapest and Hungary. Some fall in love at first sight, others feel affection after some time. However, all agree: Budapest is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

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Courtesy of Embassy of Albania

Tomorrow

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For my family, 1956 became a memorable year because of the then socalled "Hungarian Counter-revolution" (October 23 – November 11, 1956) that, in fact, was a genuine counter-communist revolution, during which over 25,000 people were killed and over 250,000 prisoners were sent to labor camps. For the first time since World War II, this event proved to the world that imposed communist regimes in eastern countries were totalitarian, antidemocratic and that promises to create a classless society and provide welfare and abundance were nothing but dogma. I learned about these events from my family history, press materials, other historical data, as well as my grandfather's file, which I managed to receive from our National Archives only this year. These events were discussed at home, mainly by my grandfather who, as many other relatives and friends, was disappointed by the communist regime and secretly listened to Radio London every evening and to the Voice of America. He especially listened to the news dedicated to events of late October and early November 1956 that were taking place in Hungary and coming to a terribly tragic end. Meanwhile, following the news on foreign radio, Albanians were informed that new developments in Hungary were not only the continuation of events in Poland. Above all, they learned of Khrushchev's notorious statement at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (February 1956), where he condemned the cult of Stalin (who died three years before) and highlighted the consequences of his brutal rule in the main communist country in the world. After hearing the news on Radio London and the Voice of America, my grandfather spoke at home and with close friends with hope that these events would lead to the overthrow of the communist regime not only in Hungary but also in Albania. The press and Radio Tirana gave dry news about the events that had shaken Hungary (while they were followed with the greatest attention by the worldwide public). According to official comments, Hungarians were waiting for what the West and the United States in particular would do. But there was only tense silence.

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European Institute of Peace HUNGARY IS ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS BY SZABOLCS TAKÁCS, POLITICAL DIRECTOR, HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

• Engage directly or in a supportive function in mediation where the EU has limited freedom or ability to act. • Serve as an operational hub, connecting the existing expertise, drawing on resources available throughout Europe. • Provide advice and make European experience and knowledge in mediation and dialogue from the field more easily accessible to European policy makers and practitioners. • Support engagement and build-up of capacity in mediation and dialogue. In the process leading up to signing of the statute in February 2014, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxemburg also joined in the project. After the founding of the Institute, a 3-member Core Team was created to coordinate and sharpen the details concerning the functioning of the institute in conjunction with the founding members.

Hungarian Speakers > THE CLUB OF HUNGARIAN SPEAKING A M B A S S A D O R S held a meeting in the Finnish Embassy to welcome the 1992 founding member Pertti Torstila of Finland and former Hungarian Foreign Minister László Kovács.

Budapest Business Party > T H E I T L G R O U P hosted its 3rd annual business party on the deck of the boat ‘Spoon’ on the Danube. Guests were entertained with a large number of games and could support the charity partner Bátor Tábor for the therapeutic recreation of children.

German Business Ball > T H E D E U T S C H E W I R T S C H A F T S C L U B hosted the First German Business Ball in the refurbished Pesti Vigadó on the occasion of Hungary’s 10 years in the EU. The chief patron of the event was Hungarian President János Áder.

photos by

Axel Eriksson, Dávid Harangozó, Nóra Halász

Based on a Swedish and Finnish initiative in November 2012, the ministers of foreign affairs of Finland, Sweden, Poland and Hungary proposed the creation of the European Institute of Peace to the High Representative. The aim of the Institute is to create an independent organization which is able (a) to engage in conflict resolution in settings where the EU has limited ability to act, and (b) to react in the early stages of conflicts, when the EU’s response capacity is limited, due to its complex decision-making mechanism. According to the EIP’s concept note, the strategic objectives of the institute are the following: • Fill the need for a flexible and external tool with links to the EU, complementing the set of instruments at the EU’s disposal in mediation and dialogue;

The official launch of the institute took place in Brussels on May 12 (see picture), with the participation of the foreign ministers of most funding states, including Hungary’s János Martonyi. Italy has announced that it is joining the institute before this occasion. The EIP is registered as a Brussels-based non-profit organization under Belgian private law. It is governed by the Board of Governors in which Hungary is represented by the Political Director of the Foreign Ministry, Szabolcs Takács. The day-to-day operations will be managed by the executive director; the institute is planning to employ 15 mediation advisors. The EIP will be advised by the Advisory Council, which is not yet constituted. The recruitment of the staff is also underway. The funding of the institute is provided on a voluntary basis. The annual budget is estimated to be EUR 3 million. Beyond the funding members’ contributions, the Institute also counts upon potential EP funding. The Core Team, together with the Board of Governors and founding members, is already in the process of identifying the focus of its future practical activities. It is in the interest of Hungary to assert a Western-Balkans focus in the Institute. As the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is a success-story of the High Representative’s mediation efforts, BosniaHerzegovina would be an ideal subject of the institute’s first scoping missions and mediation activities, as it is a country where the EU has not yet managed to break the political impasse.

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Norwegian National Day SPECIAL CONSTITUTION DAY CELEBRATED AT THE EMBASSY IN BUDAPEST On May 17, Norwegian National Day, the country’s Ambassador to Hungary, Tove Skarstein gave a reception in her residence in Budapest. It is on this day that Norwegians celebrate their Constitution, which has a special, bicentenary anniversary this year. The 200-year-old Norwegian Constitution is one of the oldest constitutions still in use, less than 50 years younger than the American. In her speech, Ambassador Skarstein recalled the historical developments that led to the 1814 constitution: the document declared Norway to be an independent kingdom in an attempt to avoid being ceded to Sweden after Denmark–Norway's devastating defeat in the Napoleonic Wars. The Ambassador reminded her audience that the country’s own constitution was a ‘window of opportunity. On April 10, 1814, the national assembly met at Eidsvoll to decide on a Constitution. Norway eventually declared independence on May 17, electing Christian Frederick as King. A short war with Sweden later that year led to the abdication of Christian Frederick in October. After having made the necessary amendments to the constitution, on November 4, the Norwegian Storting (‘the great council’, the supreme

legislature of Norway) elected Charles XIII of Sweden as King of Norway, creating the union between Sweden and Norway. As the Ambassador stated, it was a good union with Sweden on Norway’s part as the latter had the opportunity to build its own institutions: bank, university and parliament.

Democratic rights included voting rights for 48 % of the population, rule of law, freedom of the press but still no Norwegian standard language. Even the Constitution was written in Danish, and the rights were not inclusive: Jews, Jesuits, monks and nuns were not allowed into the country.

“1814 was the year of miracles. One of the most important years in Norwegian history,” she pointed out. “It is important to remember the work of those who gathered at Eidsvoll to write our Constitution. They laid the foundation for modern Norway, although a lot of the important changes happened in the years afterwards.” Ambassador Skarstein gave a lively description of the working conditions of the 112 representatives who gathered to write the Constitution. “They sat on hard, wooden benches and ate simple food. Nevertheless, Prince Christian Frederick invited a small group every night to dine at his table. Here, they had everything. Those invited alternated turns so that everyone present could participate. This has later been interpreted as a foreshadowing of the egalitarian thinking that characterizes Norway.” On the 200th anniversary, only 23 of the 113 paragraphs of the Constitution have survived. On May 6, Norwegian Parliament voted for a modernization of the language and a version in nynorsk (Neo-Norwegian or New Norwegian, the official written standard for the Norwegian language). There is a debate on whether Human Rights should be included. Nevertheless, the Old Lady, the Norwegian Constitution, is still going strong.

Why Norway? Do the Math…

And the prize goes to…

have felt that Norway was, in fact, better suited than Sweden to awarding a prize for peace. The country did not have the same militaristic traditions as Sweden, and at the end of the 19th century, the Norwegian Storting (legislative assembly) had become closely involved in the Inter-Parliamentary Union and its efforts to resolve conflicts through mediation and arbitration.”

Since 1901, the Peace Prize has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” such as Mother Theresa (1979), the International Committee of the Red Cross (1963), Kofi Annan (2001), Barack Obama (2009) or, in 2012, the European Union, for “having over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.” For 2014, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has received 278 nominations – the highest number of candidates ever. (47 of these are organizations). The laureates will be chosen in October, and they will receive their prize at the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony on December 10 in Oslo. As for the reason why there is no Nobel Prize for Mathematics, real tantalizing answers are to be found. One story goes that Alfred Nobel’s mistress (or fiancée) had an affair with a famed Swedish mathematics professor

named Gosta Mittag-Leffler, Nobel found out about the relationship, and took a stylish revenge. It’s more likely though, that Nobel simply did not see how advanced mathematics would contribute to mankind… However, there is a prize for mathematics that is equivalent to a Nobel Prize. Established by the Government of Norway and often referred to as the ‘mathematician's Nobel prize,’ the Abel Prize recognizes contributions of extraordinary depth and influence to the mathematical sciences and has been awarded annually since 2003. It carries a cash award of USD 1 million. This year’s Abel Laureate is Yakov Sinai, who was honored “for his fundamental contributions to dynamical systems, ergodic theory, and mathematical physics.” In 2012, HungarianAmerican mathematician Endre Szemerédi received the prize from King Harald in Oslo (see picture), “for his fundamental contributions to discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science, and in recognition of the profound and lasting impact of these contributions on additive number theory and ergodic theory.”

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No one knows for certain why Alfred Nobel wanted the Peace Prize in particular to be awarded by a Norwegian committee – or what prompted him to include Norway in the Nobel Prize proceedings, at all. As you know, the Physics, Chemistry and Literature prizes are awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm while the Karolinska Institute, the medical university in Stockholm, selects laureates in Physiology or Medicine. The Peace Prize, on the other hand, is awarded by the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian parliament (Storting) in Oslo, and the question often rises: why? “When Nobel wrote his will, a union that was dissolved in 1905 linked Sweden and Norway. It may in many ways have seemed right and proper for the union's other half to have a say. Also, Nobel was a great admirer of Norwegian literature, but Norway as a nation had no literary institution capable of managing the Literature Prize with the authority of the Swedish Academy. Peace was the only remaining area,” so the Norwegian Nobel Committee speculates. “Nobel may moreover

Dávid Harangozó, Erlend Aas

THE ABEL AWARD AND THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

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norway norway.

EEA and Norway Grants to Hungary Suspended HUNGARIAN OFFICIAL SUSPECTS POLITICAL LINE IN THE SUPPORT “Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein have decided to suspend further disbursements of funds to Hungary under the EEA and Norway Grants scheme because the Hungarian government unilaterally changed the system of the implementation and monitoring of the Grants scheme. A communiqué by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that changing the implementation and monitoring "is in breach of the agreements that have been entered into." As the Norwegian Minister of EEA and EU Affairs Vidar Helgesen pointed out, “Hungary’s actions in this matter are unacceptable. Unfortunately, the Hungarian Government has shown little willingness to find solutions that comply with the agreements Hungary has entered into. We have therefore decided to suspend payments until this matter has been resolved." The communiqué says that "as of January 1, the Hungarian

> A PROJECT THROUGH ÖKOTÁRS: The Norwegian Civil Grants also supports a campaign to call people’s attention to the situation of the homeless.

Government transferred the implementation and monitoring of programs and funds under the EEA and Norway Grants scheme from a ministry to an independent, stateowned company. This was a unilateral decision on the part of Hungary, and thus in breach of the

rules for the EEA and Norway Grants and the agreements Hungary has entered into with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. So far, dialogue with the Hungarian Government has not led to a solution." Helgesen added that "the

Hungarian Government is well aware of the requirements stipulated by the donor countries. The monitoring and implementation tasks in connection with the programs and funds under the EEA and Norway Grants scheme must be transferred back to the central government administration in Hungary, in line with the practice used in all the other beneficiary countries." The EEA and Norway Grants are a contribution on the part of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to reducing social and economic disparities in the EEA. Norway contributes around 97 % of the funding provided under the scheme. Hungary is a relatively large recipient of EEA and Norway Grants. For the current period, EUR 153.3 million has been allocated. Almost EUR 12 million of this amount has already been paid out. "If the Hungarian Government now shows a willingness to find a solution, there

will be no major impact on the implementation of programs and projects in Hungary,’ Vidar Helgesen concluded. In a response on the part of the Hungarian government, deputy state secretary for development policy communications, Nándor Csepreghy claimed that at the negotiations in the coming weeks, the Hungarian side will be able to provide adequate guarantees that the funding from the EEA and Norway grants would be used for the purposes it is given for. Furthermore, he called for Norway to also suspend funding for Hungarian civil organizations that comes through a consortium of Hungarian foundations the deputy state secretary accused of being a satellite organization of one of the opposition parties and thus, a political organization. The Hungarian government officials would also like to re-negotiate the program structure of all the funding coming from Norway.

Seafood for Professionals

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Courtesy pictures, Alexraths/Dreamstime.com

NORWEGIAN COMPANY SUPPLIES A GROWING HUNGARIAN MARKET “The idea of establishing a seafood business came up in a conversation among friends in Norway as they wanted to take advantage of Eastern Europe opening up. As a result a Norwegian-Hungarian joint venture was founded in 1995,” the Managing Director (MD) of Fjordin Ltd., József Géczi recalls to Diplomacy & Trade the early years of the company. He and his Hungarian partner have a small stake in the firm while the majority shareholders are still Norwegians. The original idea was to distribute Norwegian seafood only but Hungarians are not as accustomed to eating fish as the Norwegians, whose produce is still a little expensive for the Hungarian market. Géczi says they needed to broaden

their circle of suppliers to offer a complete range of products to their customers. “Wholesalers in Germany, the Netherlands, Britain or Denmark have their own extensive network of resources for these products and we buy from them, while direct supply from Norway is now of smaller percentage on our palette.” Business started to pick up towards the end of the 1990s when the

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Hungarian middle class had more opportunity to travel to the sea and become acquainted with the culture of seafood consumption. When they returned home, they created a demand for similar products. Several companies recognized this and the sea food import sector started growing from the early 2000s. “We serve private individuals with pleasure but we deliver frozen fish and seafood mainly to professional

partners such as restaurants, cafés, hotels and wholesalers. Restaurants also include the very high-class, ‘starred’ ones that insist on fresh fish. In my opinion, in a properly prepared fish dish, one cannot distinguish fresh fish from frozen. Embassies, multinational companies and a lot of private individuals who have settled in Hungary prefer to buy directly from the importer. We offer high and consistent quality, competitive prices and professional service,” the MD adds. Strict quality insurance involves constant monitoring of the food chain, including that of the temperature during storage and transport. He notes that when Fjordin started, the average Hungarian fish consumption was 1.5-1.7 kg per capita, now, this figure is more than double than that: around 3.5 kg a year. Norway is famous for supporting sustainable fishing from the environmental point of view and for ensuring that the different species can be harvested in 15-20

years time, as well. Within seafood products, the primary export item of Norway is salmon. “That country is a ‘salmon superpower’, it is world number one in salmon farming, accounting for nearly two thirds of the world production. As for the Hungarian market, salmon is affordable for more and more people, especially in Budapest. Basically, every sandwich bar offers smoked salmon,” Géczi points out. Fjordin’s business is Budapestcentered, although, they have distributors in the countryside, as well. The range of products the company offers from its cold storage base in the capital does not only include seafood. “Game was the first to be added to our palette as Hungarian venison, for example, does not rival Norwegian fish but adds to the range of products we offer as do frozen vegetables to provide the comfort of ‘ordering everything from the same place’,” József Géczi concludes.

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The Caretaker Expert THERMO CONTROL ALSO MANAGES THE NORWEGIAN EMBASSY BUILDING

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Dávid Harangozó, Courtesy of Thermo Control photo by

One would believe the name of the company, Thermo Control, says it all but the firm has more diverse activities. “It was 20 years ago that I came to Hungary to work for a Norwegian firm. I was to stay for three months, but that was not enough to set up and start up a business, so it came to be three years. However, then, the company decided to focus on oil and gas in Norway and the owners even wanted to close the Hungarian firm that – in addition to energy management – also dealt with building automation systems and building management systems,” the Managing Director (MD) of Thermo Control Ltd., Svein Jorgenvag recalls for Diplomacy & Trade. “I set up Thermo Control Ltd. (50-50%) in 1997 with a Hungarian partner who used to work at the Norwegian-owned firm. With my family, I moved to England and then to Norway but came back to Hungary in December 2000. At that time, the company had 3-4 employees. Now, it is a group of several companies in different countries: Hungary, Norway, Romania and India with an office to be opened in the Middle East,” he continues. Thermo Control Ltd. is a building automation company employing mainly engineers. The other company in Budapest is Thermo Control Facility Management Ltd. involved in facility management and energy savings. Jorgenvag is partial owner in both companies that employ some 55 people altogether. He notes that in Hungary, this activity was really good business until the crisis hit. Since then, volumes in the construction industry have been lower. “However, unlike many of our competitors, we have always been careful with our financial situation, which allowed us to weather the world crisis better than others.” As for clients, Thermo Control started with Western and Nordic companies like Nokia, Lego, Skanska, Telenor – “we do bigger

buildings, factories, offices, shopping centers, the Technical University was our first energy saving project back in 1996-97,” he adds. In facility management, they take over the operation of the building. He mentions that “the NOKIA factory in Komárom, western Hungary was the first such project for us. We managed to carry out the necessary modifications and installations in heating, cooling, ventilation, electricity, etc. without stopping production.” Although, not of the largest scale but probably the most prominent work for Thermo Control is the facility management job at the Norwegian Embassy in Budapest and “we have done the automation there, too. They are very satisfied with the professional work we do there.” When asked how satisfied he is with the current Hungarian investment environment, he says “I’m adjusting, I cannot go around and complain much. This is something I cannot influence. Doing business is much easier in Norway, by far not as bureaucratic as in Hungary, but – also working in India – I can say that there, it is ten times more difficult to do business! So, everything is relative.” Married to a Hungarian, Svein Jorgenvag spent 16 of the past 20 years in Hungary. In his view, Norwegians are more relaxed while Hungarians are working very hard and very well but sometimes have negative thinking, sentiments, they are less optimistic. He says “it is problem if an American or a Norwegian is coming here to do business as they are unaware of this.” In this respect, Svein Jorgenvag is in a good situation as he knows the local people and mentality well.

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africa africa.

ADVERTORIAL

Hungarian Expert in Sierra Leone TWD INVESTMENTS PLC. IN THE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS IN WEST AFRICA “The idea came about five years ago when two friends of mine accepted an adventurous business offer to take part in a diamondmining business in Sierra Leone, West Africa. For them, this venture turned out to be very profitable. They got to know – and got to love – the country but, at the same time, realized that while Sierra Leone was starting from deep down, it had great growing potential. Then came the idea why shouldn’t we profit from this potential – an idea followed by action as we took over a public limited company, listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange, TWD (Transworld Diamond) Investments Plc, at the end of 2013. Another company, TWD Co. Ltd., has been established, which is now the owner of a diamond mine in Sierra Leone and an office in the capital, Freetown,“ CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors at TWD Investments Plc., Zsolt Dámosy recalls to Diplomacy & Trade. He spent a long time in Germany before raising his profile in Hungary over the past decade in sports management, first managing Hungarian featherweight Olympic, European and World Champion boxer István (Kokó) Kovács, then working as the president of Ferencváros TC, a prominent sport club in Budapest. During his fairly diverse business activities, he played a key role in the Hungarian expansion of Microsoft and Borland in the IT sector. Then, he

SIERRA LEONE

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Dávid Harangozó, Courtesy of TWD Investments

POPULATION: 6.0m SURFACE AREA (sq km): 71,740 CAPITAL: Freetown TIMEZONE: GMT +01:00 OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English HEAD OF STATE: President Ernest Bai KOROMA GDP (USD): 2.3bn GDP per capita (USD): 383 LIFE EXPECTANCY (years): 41.8 LITERACY (% of adult pop.): 34.8

ABOUT THE COUNTRY

For further information about ongoing projects of TWD Investments Plc., please, visit: www.twdinvest.hu/en/underdevelopment participated in the development of a residential project worth USD several million as project manager and co-owner. More recently, he was co-owner and director of a hotel development in Bavaria. “Over the past years, TWD Investments Plc. has become highly Sierra Leone is situated on the west coast of Africa, and borders Liberia and Guinea. The country gained independence from Britain in 1961, after which it became a one-party state characterized by coups d’etat and economic mismanagement. In 1991, it adopted a multiparty system before experiencing a decade of civil war (1991-2001). Apart from mineral resources (diamonds) and its agricultural potential, Sierra Leone has little in the way of an economic base. The manufacturing industry, which accounts for around 23% of GDP, produces basic consumer goods and assembles a small range of intermediate goods; the service sector is also rudimentary. The post-conflict economy is relatively stable, albeit fragile. Years of internecine conflict and underdevelopment have devastated the country’s infrastructure and the standard of living. The government has embarked on a donorsupported economic reform agenda, but a poor regulatory environment and endemic corruption continue to hinder progress in many sectors. (Source: Dun & Bradstreet)

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acquainted with Sierra Leone. The country is on the path of economic development and we are eager to share our knowledge with potential investors who are also looking to benefit from this progress. We provide full feasibility studies in several areas of the West African

country's economy to support the investment decisions of our clients.” Dámosy says. Through increasing its local knowledge, the company has built a priceless network which is essential in African business life, thus, creating the possibility to become an

organizing force in founding any further enterprises in Sierra Leone. The real estate market has not been able to keep up with the economic growth of Sierra Leone, so far. Foreign companies and their businessmen are appearing in an increasingly larger number, generating a permanently and rapidly growing demand for European quality offices and residential real estate. The small number of available properties, originally developed to serve local demands, thus falling short of European quality expectations, is rented for exorbitant amounts and usually requires a prepayment of one year's rent. Recognizing this market deficiency, TWD Co. Ltd., TWD Gate Co. Ltd and TWD Investments Plc. jointly started their real estate development project in Freetown. The first phase will be the development of a 2,200-sqm apartment residency with 4 floors, 14 flats and 3 offices. “We have advanced stage negotiations with 4-5 companies that – at our encouragement – have realized that it is really worth investing in this African country. In our consulting activity, we focus on not only giving advice but also participating in ventures in Sierra Leone, thereby proving our confidence in the successful business outcome of these projects. We also welcome and analyze any idea coming from partners who are willing to extend their business activities in West Africa.” Zsolt Dámosy concludes.

AFRICA DAY > H U N G A R I A N A N D A F R I C A N F O L K D A N C E added to the special atmosphere of the celebration of Africa Day 2014 in the hungarian Museum of Agriculture in Budapest.

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science science.

Academy of Sciences Elects New President OUTGOING ACADEMY CHIEF SATISFIED WITH ACHIEVEMENTS Internationally acclaimed mathematician and computer scientist László Lovász has been elected as the new president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) at a closed session of the academy’s 185th annual assembly meeting in Budapest this May. His predecessor, József Pálinkás served as MTA President from 2008. Born in Budapest in 1948, László Lovász excelled in mathematics in secondary school, winning gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad (1964, 1965 and two special prizes in 1966). He became a member of MTA at the early age of 31. His achievements are highly recognized worldwide as he has achieved outstanding results in various fields of number theory such as discrete mathematics, combinatorial optimization and algorithm theory. As you can read on MTA’s web page, László Lovász has unquestionable merits in taking combinatorics, a traditional focal point of Hungarian mathematics, into the forefront of modern mathematics. Among the numerous international awards and recognitions Lovász has received throughout his career, the most prestigious is the Kyoto-prize of 2010,

considered the Japanese Nobel-prize for mathematics by many. In Hungary, he was awarded the Széchenyi Grand Prize in 2008 and the Bolyai-prize in 2007. Professor Lovász is also the proud owner of the highly acclaimed Wolf-prize (1999). He was elected foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2007), honorary member of the London

Mathematical Society (2009) an was elected to the American National Academy of Sciences (2011). In 2012 he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society. He was also President of the International Mathematical Union (2007-2010). László Lovász has been elected MTA President for three years as were the vice presidents (neurobiologist Tamás Freund,

law professor Lajos Vékás and mathematician Domokos Szász) and the general secretary Ádám Török, an economist. József Pálinkás, who completed his six-year term as president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in May, said in an interview with the Hungarian news agency MTI that under his leadership the academy had reformed its research organization, implemented important infrastructure projects and launched a successful program to encourage Hungarian scientists living abroad to return to their homeland. Pálinkás stressed that at the time he was elected president the institutional system of the Academy was far too fragmented, and both its buildings and equipment were obsolete. Between 2008 and 2014, MTA’s assets have grown from HUF 74 billion to 112 billion, with such developments as a scientific research center built with HUF 9.5 billion or the CERN Wigner Data Center built from HUF 8.5 billion accounting for the growth. Noting a third facility serving arts and social research built during the past 6 years, he said that the magnitude of development was “unprecedented in a period hit by economic crisis.”

Maintaining Momentum

back here, it makes it visible that world class research work is being done in Hungary, too." He called the event a spectacular parade, which was attended by this year’s recipients, the heads and representatives of MTA's research centers, institutes, and the universities who host MTA teams, and by former winners, family members, and interested members of the public. All that, he said, goes to show that Hungarian science has

not only a past to remember but a future to look forward to. László Lovász stressed that with respect to the future success of Momentum, it is essential that the warranties that have ensured success to this date remain in place, meaning severe monitoring, communication stressing the social uses of the program, and the conditions of its sustainability. The Momentum program, launched in 2009

with seed money of HUF 213 million rolled to HUF 2.89 billion in 2013, providing 79 research teams with extra funds. The efficiency of the program is seen in the fact that three of the initial teams have been given a permanent status within the hosting MTA organizations. In 2014, HUF 800 million is available to subsidize the formation of new Momentum research teams. That sum covers the costs of establishing new independent teams by 18 young researchers within MTA and university research sites. Altogether, MTA has contributed to the establishment and the operation of 97 local research teams, all promising to deliver world standard results. The Momentum call for applications in 2014 addressed two categories of scientists: those who have started independent research careers those who have been pursuing successful independent careers for some time. The program for start-up researchers addresses under-38, young and promising researchers who show outstanding and constantly increasing achievements, who, while doing their Momentum research work or upon completing it, are ready to apply for a similar grant in the ‘Starting’ or ‘Consolidator’ categories of the next call by the European Research Council (ERC).

w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m | D I P L O M A C Y & T R A D E | JUNE 2014

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Research by 18 young scientists endowed to set up independent research teams in 2014 will vary from developing intelligent materials, to forecasting the survival chances of patients with malignant tumors, to the image of the Medieval Hungary. Several of the 18 recipients, funded by the Momentum program for excellence by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) this year, have come home from abroad in order to continue their promising scientific endeavors. The objective of the Momentum program launched by MTA President József Pálinkás in 2009 is to offer research opportunities to the best young researchers either by keeping them in or calling them home to Hungary. In the past six years, this research financing program, recognized as a model example even in countries outside Hungary, has considerably helped renew the institutional culture of science and boost science practices in Hungary. As newly elected MTA President László Lovász evaluated the significance of the program at the ceremony organized to announce the recipients of the award, "the Momentum is important, because in addition to being a great help for excellent researchers to stay or come

Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI, Tamás Szigeti

YOUNG RESEARCHERS SUPPORTED BY MTA'S PROGRAM FOR EXCELLENCE

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innovation innovation.

Hungary Must Become an Innovation Center ECONOMIC MINISTER PROMISES SUPPORT TO R&D AND INNOVATION The Hungarian government will do everything in its power to help Hungary turn into not only a production but an innovation center, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said at the general assembly of the Hungarian Association for Innovation this May. The Minister stated that Hungary is in possession of those capacities and opportunities that are essential for assuming a leading role in innovation. In his opinion, two requirements are necessary to achieve this end: the stability of economic performance must be maintained and rebounding economic growth must be underpinned. The objective of the government is to have at least twenty world-class innovation centers by 2018, the end of the current government’s term, and at least thirty by the end of the decade, Mihály Varga stressed. As he explained, economic growth and improved competitiveness are unimaginable without supporting

R&D and innovation, therefore the government will, in the coming period, increase the weight of high added value production. Mihály Varga emphasized that business tax incentives introduced over the past years will continue “provided the budget allows”, and opined that the tax burden will be

cut further. In addition, he claimed that programs aimed at cutting red tape will be continued, the registration process of new companies will be accelerated and financing options will be improved. The Minister said the government expects that economic revival will boost lending and the government

is readying regulatory amendments in order to facilitate this process. As the Minister pointed out, Hungary needs an industrial strategy which reduces exposure to the car sector. To this end, certain priority areas must be selected where resources can be focused. As examples, the Minister mentioned the electronics, logistics, healthcare and tourism sectors as well as the food and defense industries. In addition, the Minister singled out the importance of electro-mobility and said that the government intends to facilitate the development and utilization of electric machinery and appliances, especially vehicles. He stressed that the government is preparing to change the structure of innovation policy and that in the coming months a committee will be set up to serve as a development policy umbrella organization. While in 2007-2013, only 16% of EU funding was devoted directly to economic development, in the period 2014-

2020, this indicator is expected to be 60% or HUF 4,000 billion. The main targets will be the development of SMEs and subsidizing R&D and labor market programs. He added that in 20142020, some HUF 700 bn will be made available for R&D and at the allocation of resources the aspect of competitiveness will also be taken into account. It is also a goal of the government to coordinate university, academic and company researches and by 2020 increase the number of researchers by 40 percent. Mihály Varga stressed that knowledge, ideas and diligence are not sufficient for generating economic achievements: the knowledge encapsulated in an idea or an invention must be developed and made use of. He expressed the view that while in 2008-2014 Hungarian economic policy had to focus on crisis management, economic reform has lately been bearing fruits and the economy is gaining momentum.

Qualysoft Holding – Innovation and Expansion

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Géza Dede/Ministry of National Economy, Courtesy of Qualysoft

QUALYSOFT EXPANDS PORTFOLIO AND STRENGTHENS EXISTING PILLARS Qualysoft, one of the most prosperous independent IT consulting and service providers in Hungary is planning domestic and international acquisitions. The company is to open new subsidiaries, as well. Qualysoft also started preparations to join the stock exchange in the midterm as well as going to represent the Hungarian IT sector in Singapore. All these plans were announced by the company in May. The company was founded in 1999 in Vienna by two Hungarian experts and became one of the most dominant participants of the information technology industry not only in Hungary but in the region, as well, since it works with almost 500 IT experts. Beside Hungary and Austria, the group is present in Germany, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, and is considering its next representation office in Albania, where it won the eTaxation project, a new, centralized and

He adds that “we have outgrown the office space we have in Budapest and are in discussions to rent more, especially since a whole team of IT experts will join our ranks in the second half of the year for a new project. In our current stage of development, it is time for us to expand our portfolio as well as strengthen those pillars that we already have. The area where the most new staff will be needed is that of application developers.”

The AXA project automated tax system of the Albanian Internal Revenue Service.

Expansion As Attila Simon, the Chief Executive Officer of Qualysoft Hungary explains to Diplomacy & Trade, “despite the economic crisis of the past years, Qualysoft has been a dynamically developing participant of the IT

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sector. In the future we would like to stimulate our growth in an extensive and intensive way, as well. We are in negotiations with several potential buy-up targets, and we would like the developing South-East Asian region to get to know our high standard products and services. For this reason, Qualysoft participated in the ExhibIT show in Singapore in May.“

One of the projects the CEO is the most proud of is Qualysoft’s role in managing the separation of the IT systems of AXA Bank and AXA Insurance when the latter was sold to an Austrian group. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of AXA Bank Hungary, András Kovács says his bank and Qualysoft had good relations before and the well-done full-service management of the project only reinforced ties between

the two entities. “Project leader Zsolt Nyiredi did an excellent job in separating the deeply intertwined technical systems, properly representing the interests of both sides simultaneously. In doing this, he established good relations with the IT experts of both the bank and the insurance company.” The further development of the Hungarian IT market and the appearance of international companies on the domestic market increase the demand for IT graduates. Attila Simon points to research by the ICT Association of Hungary that there are about 10,000 vacancies in the industry. “Qualysoft aims to contribute to the education of IT professionals with its own tools, therefore, together with University of Pécs, we are about to launch the Qualysoft Academy that trains IT students who can work for Qualysoft later on. Qualysoft plans similar cooperation with other universities in the future.”

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culture culture.

Gold Will Shine INTERVIEW WITH HUNGARIAN NUMISMATIST LÁSZLÓ NUDELMAN DID YOU KNOW?

BY RÉKA A. FRANCISCK

• The Hungarian National Bank bought his Árpád dynasty-themed numismatic collection in 1989. • He owns an unmatched quality collection of Hungarian paintings by Jenô Barcsay, Endre Bálint, Dezsô Korniss and Lajos Vajda. along with contemporary masterpieces by László Lakner, Ilona Keserô and István Nádler. He often lends paintings from his private collection, contributing to large-scale exhibitions, for example to the Hungarian National Gallery. • at his shop that grades, catalogues and of course sell coins, visitors can find fantasy coin mountings too, that were produced at his initiative, in alignment with a contract with the Hungarian Mint and with the permission of the Hungarian National Bank.

something made quite a bargain. Those pieces which were sold that time are worth 10 or 12 times more today. Thanks to this auction, I gained quite a serious reputation on an international scale.” Every year, since 2008, Nudelman holds one auction at Budapest’s Hotel Kempinski, with a total turnover of EUR 1 million generally. “The year we had a record turnover and reached double this amount was in 2009 – the year dubbed ‘the year of depression’ by many.”

The family golden ducats from the early modern period in Hungary, while at that time, you could buy these coins at a very low price abroad. So, I held my first auction in 1995 selling these pieces,” Nudelman recalls an era when Hungary was lacking notable independent numismatic auctions. “I had 4,000 catalogs printed and made sure that all possible collectors both inside and outside of the country got a copy. In the end, 200 people came, 25 or 30 of them were foreign collectors but the ones with the highest bids were mostly Hungarians. In total, the pieces were sold for HUF 90 million, which was a substantial amount of money. The starting bids were low and those who bought

Nudelman today runs his business with his son and, according to him, his daughter will soon come aboard, too. “No one says this profession is a masculine one. My daughter’s choice was to study the Ancient Greek and Latin languages. That’s the best start,”

adds the proud father who is admitted to the International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN), an organization that has, at the moment, no more than 107 members worldwide, of which Nudelman is the sole Hungarian. “The objectives of the Association, founded in 1951 in Geneva, are the development of a healthy and prosperous numismatic trade conducted according to the highest standards of business ethics and commercial practice,” he explains, adding that he is also a member of the International Bureau for Suppression of Counterfeit Coins (IBSCC) that vehemently fights against all types of forgeries of coins or medals. Famed British collector Geoffrey Cope once said that “art in the form of coins is not only what we study but the emotion

w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m | D I P L O M A C Y & T R A D E | JUNE 2014

Bianka Májay, Valéria Knausz (Coin pictures)

The first pennies “First, I collected coins from the Árpád dynasty then I went on to collect silver groats (garas). I soon realized that there were hardly any

> MORE ON LÁSZLÓ NUDELMAN:

when we hold a piece of history”. Forging history, according Nudelman, is one of the worst crimes. He believes that technical development, mainly development in information technology works in forgers’ favor, and he is ready to point to ‘the other side of the coin’. “You need to be well-prepared to denounce a flawless forgery. You need to know where the coin was minted because, even at the same time, different mints could apply different techniques. One thing that can help us denounce forgery is the fact that certain procedures always create the forged ones to be 0.10.2mm bigger diametrically. Also, the surface can tell us a lot; matte surfaces and steadily shiny surfaces indicate something else.” I ask if purchasing on-line comes with bigger risk, only to be told that the risk is not influenced by the channel through which products are sold. “What is important is to rightly choose who we buy the product from! The rules for cautiousness are the same here as in the other branches of commerce. It is recommended to make purchases in stores that are clearcut and also give you an invoice. If these conditions are met, online shopping is not any riskier than regular shopping,” Nudelman adds. “Certainly, there is room for educating newcomers to collect and save and learn about coins, and encourage children to do so. Numismatics is a secretive sphere through which links with art, history and finance are revealed from behind an austere facade. Numismatics is fun. Sometimes crazy, but hey, all collectors are a little crazy, right? So if you ask me to tell you if you should be involved in numismatics, I’d say, sure, do it. Does it pay to spend money on it? Oh, yes!

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A few days ago, a treasure trove of rare gold coins was discovered in San Francisco by a California couple out walking their dog. Nearly all of the 1,427 coins, dating from 1847 to 1894, were in uncirculated, mint condition, and have been valued at USD 11 million. “Well, it’s not every day you come across such a fortune. In fact, it is very rare,” points out László Nudelman, a leading Hungarian numismatist who regularly runs live and on-line auctions in addition to managing his shop that just moved to a brand new location at Budapest’s Petôfi Sándor utca 16 in district 5. “The amount of valuable coins circulating in the world is not growing much. The economics of coin collecting is simply the economic law of supply and demand,” continues the collector, who fell in love with numismatics at the age of 11, and, more surprisingly, chose it as a profession. “As long as there is a demand for a particular coin, it will support a price based upon the supply. The supply remains while the demand increases. Coins are relatively high liquidity investments: let’s say, I have a HUF 1,000 coin, I can be sure to sell it for HUF 800 in a minute or for HUF 900 in a day. This gives collectors a peace of mind to know that their purchase will be guaranteed to hold its value or increase. Of course, this growth is not linear and we may also expect to see short time setbacks. But there are instances where substantial profit may be realized even in the short term, and in the long term - after 8-12 years – usually all collectible coins can be sold at a profit. Hence, I would say calling numismatics the ‘hobby of kings,’ is very misleading. But, it can be a life jacket. Also, the coins are relatively small and easy to store.” Nudelman adds that as subjectivity is less common when it comes to valuing a piece, collectors can almost always be sure that they will find sales in the database.

The word comes from the Greek word nomisma, which means money. This science has developed in the 14th century and today it is a widespread hobby, which also includes the collection and study of notes and coins. One of the first of systematic numismatist was the French Renaissance humanist Guillaume Bude.

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gastronomy gastronomy.

Szamos Gourmet House 1052 Budapest, Váci utca 1. PHONE: +36 30 570 5973 www.szamosmarcipan.hu

The Halls of a Gourmet House AN INTRODUCTION INTO THE SECRETS OF SZAMOS PASTRIES The Szamos confectionery empire has evolved from a small, family-run marzipan workshop into an ever-growing enterprise which includes several confectioneries, cafés, sweets shops, and a manufacturing plant. Szamos Gourmet House, an elegant café-confectionery in downtown Budapest, is one of the company’s recently opened additions. BY ANDRÁS ZSÁMBOKI

Szamos is one of those few family companies in Hungary today that has a three-generational story. The firm was founded by Mátyás Szamos in the mid 1930s, and was run by him until the mid 1970s when his daughter and son-in-law inherited the management. At the moment, another generational shift is underway: Mátyás Szamos’s two grandsons Kolos and Ádám are taking over the four family-owned companies which make up the Szamos empire today.

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Courtesy of Szamos, Balázs Glódi

The owners still participate in the supervision of the business, managing the confectionary workshop as well as the cafés. If someone wants to run into the company’s owners, the best place to find them is in Szamos Gourmet House on Vörösmarty tér in Budapest’s ‘innercity’. “For our family, the inner city has always been a matter of the heart” Ádám Kelényi, the grandson responsible for all Szamos cafés points out while sitting at one of the corner tables of Szamos Gourmet House. “My grandfather, Mátyás Szamos opened his confectionery two corners from here on Párizsi Street. His ice cream was so famous in the city that there was often a 30-meter queue lining up in front of his shop.” Szamos now owns twenty confectioneries in Budapest. Most of them have been opened in the past ten years, and, following the current zeitgeist, most of them can be found in shopping malls. “With Gourmet House, we returned to the inner city in 2011 – to the quarter where our story began.” But not

exactly to the same place: Vörösmarty Square is the middle of the downtown area, the focal point of old-fashioned elegance. Szamos Gourmet House is surrounded by old bank buildings, time-renowned restaurants and jewelry shops left here from another age. “This is not new money but old-world elegance. When we look around, we can see gentlemen in tweed jackets and cashmere scarves discussing business. Elderly French tourists are browsing Michelin’s guidebook. Sophisticated Hungarians talk shop at another table. Confectioners’ industry is a traditional trade. We are heir to the cafés of the AustroHungarian Monarchy,” Ádám Kelényi says. And indeed: it is enough to take a look at the menu to see that everything that was popular in fin-de-siècle cafés is available here, from hot dishes to sweets, from déjeuner to souper. Wine soup, followed by beefsteak as main course, and strudel for dessert would be a typical vintage combination from the menu of Gourmet House.

Under the tantalizing delicacies, the plates evoke the days of the early 1900s, as well: the tableware is made by the Herendi Factory, one of Hungary’s finest porcelain manufacturers. “When designing the interior of Gourmet House, we relied on the Herendi Factory. The walls of the reception hall are covered by art nouveau-style colored tiles evoking Gustav Klimt’s art.” The exclusiveness and sophistication of the room make it perfectly suitable for all types of high-profile receptions, including diplomatic events.

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THE MARZIPAN > In the small room of the Gourmet House, guests can taste a full selection of the Szamos Marzipan Manufacture. “We make more than fifty bonbons and truffles such as chocolate balls made with dried plums, chocolate-dipped orange petals, or cherries-in-cognac bonbons,” Ádám Kelényi said. “Few people know that my grandfather’s original enterprise was not a confectionery but a family marzipan manufacture.” Ever since, marzipan has been one of the main profiles of Szamos. At the Pilisvörösvár plant of the company outside Budapest, delicacies are made by hand to this very day. “Our marzipan desserts are created out of Belgian chocolate, fresh sour cherries, house-made plum jam, and we only use natural materials such as almonds and walnuts,” Ádám Kelényi said. By artisan methods, healthy foods can be manufactured more easily. “We have several products in which sugar is substituted by stivia. Not to mention the fact that marzipan itself has a high almond content, a fruit that is widely known to be rich in antioxidants. Walnuts are high on Omega 3 oils. Our own house-made Parisian crème contains a substantial amount of Vitamin E.”

THE HALL OF INITIATION

“Different elements of our menu come from distinctive culinary traditions. Soups and hot dishes mainly reflect the impact of French and Hungarian cuisine, while desserts are mostly inspired by our own tradition. The assortment of our pastries changes continually. There are, of course, timeless classics such as Eszterházy or Dobos cakes, but we also keep inventing newer and newer tarts, cakes and pastries. We continually follow the innovations of our competitors, and we build these into our own selection. Our family gathers for lunch every Sunday. After lunch, members of the family walk out to the kitchen, and we try out the new ideas: we prepare the newest, most innovative pastries together,” he adds. Innovation, however, is not limited to the invention of new pastry recipes. There is ample space for novelties in the art of serving as well. Szamos Gourmet House has, for example, introduced a serving solution unknown in other confectionaries: they call it ‘dessert-on-tray’. The name means that pastries are accompanied by a sweet sauce or crème as well as a cup of cappuccino or mélange. The special trays and plates used for this type of combined dessert are designed and manufactured by the Herendi Porcelain Factory. The ‘dessert-ontray’ is a good substitute for lunch, and is ideal for business meetings when a heavy meal is not needed.

> One wall of the reception hall of Gourmet House is made of plexi glass. Guests can look through this transparent wall, and observe the busy pastry chefs in toques blanches prepare the delicacies. “This is our showroom, where voluntary candidates can get initiated into the art of pastry making.” The technology of the workshop is explained to guests who can also participate in the creation of bonbons and truffles sold in the shop. By the end of the three-hour course, the secrets of the confectioners’ trade are revealed. “Guests can learn from Master Chef Andor how bonbons get their enticing glaze, and how they become crisp and crunchy.”

There are a number of ways to get initiated into the intricate art of pastry making at the Gourmet House. There are groups of visitors, usually tourists, from which only the most courageous enter the workshop area. The others watch the rite of initiation from the other side of the plexi glass, and follow the action through amplifiers. Szamos, however, hosts many diverse groups of visitors. Several companies choose the course as an unusual form of team building. “Our training course in chocolate making is vastly successful among corporations. We receive bucketfuls of letters from companies thanking us for this unforgettable experience. The success of chocolate making cum team building can be explained by a number of reasons: its an outdoor experience in which colleagues can present themselves from a different angle, and at the end of the event, in the framework of a business dinner, they can all eat what they prepared together in the workshop. While women may feel at home in a pastry kitchen right from the start, men may enjoy showing off their hidden talents; after all, confectioners’ trade has been a traditionally male profession.”

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gastronomy gastronomy.

Bocuse d’Or EUROPE 2014 HUNGARIAN SUCCESS AT THE WORLD’S MOST PRECIOUS CULINARY COMPETITION BY EDINA ESZTER NAGY

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WASABI IS A UNIQUE CHAIN of restaurants offering fine Asian dishes in a laid back atmosphere. If you are looking for a relaxed way to explore the flavors of the Japanese, Korean and Thai cuisines, you should try the all-you-can-eat Running Sushi Buffet. Two belts bring over 150 different dishes directly to your table. The á la carte menu is created with a modern flair for presentation and quality. Wasabi has three restaurants in Budapest and one in Debrecen. Home Run Sushi and Wok Menu for take away and private parties are also available.

> Fantastic atmosphere, international supporters, contestants side-by-side, incredible precision, detailed attention, muscular effort and speed so as to qualify among the first 12 teams and all this in under 5h35 minutes! No, this is not insight into a sport competition, however similar to that; this is a ’snapshot’ of the Bocuse d’Or, the gastronomic world’s most well-known contest. The Hungarian team, composed by Gábor Molnár chef, Adam Pohner commis, Peter Várvízi coach and Zoltán Hamvas who represented the country onthe jury ’cooked themselves’ to the European round to the World final. They had to cook a fish and a meat dish, the first served on plate, while the latter on a plate.

recommendations

Fixed price all-you-can-eat sushi and other Asian specialties served on a double conveyor belt Á la carte Japanese, Thai and Korean specialties Teppanyaki grilled meats and vegetables

information

WASABI MOM PARK, 1123 Budapest, Alkotás utca 53. TEL.: (+361) 225-3518 WASABI BUDA 1037 Budapest, Szépvölgyi út 15. TEL.: (+361) 430-1056 WASABI PEST 1065 Budapest, Podmaniczky u. 21. TEL.: (+361) 374-0008 WASABI DEBRECEN 4024 Debrecen, Piac u. 18. TEL.: (+3652)535-346 www.wasabi.hu

THE HUNGARIAN TEAM PREPARED THESE • • • •

Gentle spring breeze on the shore Black cod and Norwegian scampi rolled into eryngii carpet Oyster jelly ravioli with mussel tartar Asparagus cannelloni served in sabayon sauce, accompanied by field flowers, almond taller and fresh herbs • Grilled Oyster cake with scallop in a spinach topped kohlrabi field

BUDA CASTLE BEER FESTIVAL Spring on the farmstead • Balsamic orange glazed fricandeau roulade with marinated pork leg 'petals' and black pudding in its heart rolled into lemon crumble and served with smoked paprika flavored pork jus • Onion cupola filled with preserves presented on mustard seasoned apple jelly with crispy potato chips on the top • Striped potato tower stuffed with smashed parsley potato topped with black olive tartar nockerl • Chestnut flour based flower pot filled with buckwheat, sauce Béarnaise and sugar-pea ragout

This year the team representing Hungary followed the example of Tamás Széll (Restaurant Onyx) in Brussels, and achieved a praiseworthy 9th place from among a strong field of the 20 best competing countries present in Stockholm at the Bocuse d’Or Europe competition. Thus, for the 2nd time in history, we have a chance of having our bests competing in our colors in the finals that showcase marvelous culinary masterpieces. We can proudly say, that those months of tough preparation, in which the Bocuse d’Or winner Serge Vieira also played a role as a trainer, bore fruit. Now those who were there cheering on the team, those who celebrated the results with them and those who are interested in the so-called ’haute cuisine’ can look forward with pleasure to the creations that our Hungarian team will put on the table in January 2015 in Lyon and what this final will bring for us. ANOTHER GOOD NEWS The awards ceremony brought more great news for us: Budapest won the right to organize the next European round of Bocuse d’Or, to be held in 2016. This decision, that we will host the World’s most well-known and recognized culinary competition’s qualifying round for the final is – as expressed by Zoltán Hamvas, president of the Hungarian Bocuse d’Or Academy like „we would gain the opportunity to organize the European Cup in football”. Thanks to the favorable assessment of Hungary’s tender we are featured in the World’s culinary calendar, which can be promising for the country on several fields.I can proudly state based on my personal experiences, that going through these culinary adventures, cheering for and celebrating with the team, is invaluable and last but not least seeing the step by step expanding list of successes through which Hungary reinforces its position on the culinary world map is really promising for the future.

w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m | D I P L O M A C Y & T R A D E | JUNE 2014

Courtesy pictures

9th place

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www.budavarisorfesztival.hu June 12-15 at Buda Castle The Buda Caste Beer Festival is traditionally held in the courtyards of the Royal Castle. The 4-day beer feast brings almost 200 domestic and international beers to beer-lovers. Well known Hungarian breweries like Borsodi and Dreher, along with lesser-known microbreweries will showcase their products, while German, Czech and Belgian beers will also be represented. The focus of this year’s festival is on the Czech beers. Last year’s favorite, the cider terrace will be open again. Visitors will have a chance to learn about the history of beer making and enjoy great food and a number of concerts.

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hospitality hospitality.

* * * * SUPERIOR

Thermal Hotel Visegrád information 2025 Visegrád, Lepence-völgy hrsz. 1213. TEL: (+3626) 801-900 E-MAIL: info@thv.hu • www.thv.hu DOUBLE ROOM FROM: EUR 110–280 Conference – Fitness – SPA – Wellness à la carte Restaurant – Parking – WI-FI

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY located hotels with a lovely, peaceful and friendly atmosphere in the Danube bend is Thermal Hotel Visegrád, situated in close vicinity to the Park Forest of Pilis, only 40 km from the city centre of Budapest. The four-star superior hotel has 164 double rooms and 10 apartments providing full convenience and first-class services to guests wishing to have refreshment and rest and looking for an ideal environment. One of the natural resources of Visegrád is the mineral-water-quality spring of 39 °C breaking out from a depth of 1,300 m. The wellness centre of the hotel is fed by this valuable medicinal water which breaks up only few meters away. The services of the Lepence Spa: indoor and outdoor fun pool, children and thermal pools, open-air swimming pool, summer pool with sun terrace, tepidarium and sauna park: Finnish saunas and steam baths, aroma cabin, ice well, fun showers, relax room. In the wellness center daily visitors are welcome! One of the specialities of the hotel is the Duna restaurant, with a terrace where guests can enjoy a splendid view of the Danube Bend. The restaurant offers traditional Hungarian and international dishes, a wide selection of wines, wine dinners, buffet table and regularly renewed menu. The hotel’s air-conditioned conference and meeting rooms equipped with the most modern technical equipment, as well as our restaurant with a huge terrace provide ideal conditions for company events, conferences, partner meetings, trainings, banquettes, receptions, parties and weddings.Upon request, the hotel is also able to provide hostesses, interpreters, photographers, live music, decorators and program offers.

BUDAPEST’S BRAND NEW TOURIST AND FAMILY ATTRACTION

ALL THE SMALL THINGS…

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Courtesy pictures, Attila Tosoki

> Miniversum opened on May 16 at Krausz Palace (Andrássy Avenue 12) much to the delight of tourists and Hungarian families alike. “This is landscaping at its best,” says Attila Kocsis, the great mind behind the miniscule world. “To create landscapes and urban scenery of top notch modelling quality, we have worked with the best Hungarian modelers, miniature creators and mock-up experts, a team of 40.” This gigantic, beautifully detailed, decorative model layout features many sights and landmarks from Hungary, Austria and Germany scaled to about 1:100 its original size. The site is very interactive. There’s continuous traffic on every spot of the 300 sqm layout, and visitors are invited to take part in the operation. “Minute-by-minute, children and adults are exposed to new impressions and experiences. They can start new attractions by the switch of a button,” Kocsis adds. With its huge monitor wall, Miniversum’s control room is a stunner in its own right, where technically minded guests can observe the operation of the entire site closely. “Budapest is one of Europe’s top tourist destinations attracting over 4 million tourists every year,” explains Kocsis as to why he chose to build this mini-world in the Hungarian capital. “This number is growing year after year despite recession, and to reach tourists, I believe we couldn’t have chosen the location more wisely.” As to the Hungarian target group, Kocsis comes up with precise numbers again, “There are over 25,000 new babies born each year in the Budapest area, ensuring that a new set of youngsters can enter our target group every year.” We have a family-focused approach, we pay special attention to our smallest guests: they are welcome at the Miniversum playhouse with various creative activities corresponding to their age and free of additional charge, whilst older visitors can recover from the astonishing experiences of the exhibition in our café.”

MINIVERSUM IN NUMBERS 300 square-meter layout, 14 cities on display, tracks of over 1.2 km, 100 trains in motion, 600 buildings, 1,000 motor cars, 5,000 miniature figures, 5,000 trees. To build the layout, over 15 km of cable and some 20,000 screws were used, in addition to over 5 tons of timber and about 2 tons of plaster. There’s a playhouse, a café, and you may also try your hand at landscaping.

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ESPAÑA VERDE – SPAIN’S UNDISCOVERED GREEN NORTH

TOP GEAR LIVE JULY 1 AT PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA > The world's biggest automotive theater show, based on the award winning BBC TV program, starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and mysterious driver The Stig is coming to Budapest for the very first time and the presenters are looking forward to bringing the actionpacked arena show to town. “This is the first time we’ve ever performed live there. I’ve absolutely no idea exactly what we’ll be up to in Budapest, but you can guarantee it will be something very special. What we can promise is lots of gigantic explosions, some very scary stunts plus a magnificent line-up of incredibly expensive supercars… not to mention all the usual cock-ups,” Clarkson says. Richard Hammond adds, “Budapest is a fine city and has seen many remarkable events over the years. What it’s never seen before is three idiots in an arena doing stupid things with cars.” Clarkson continues as to why the show promises to be more thrilling for fans than Formula 1, “I can’t wait to bring our live tour to Budapest. I know the city is very familiar with Formula 1 and our live show is just the same, except with more crashes and fewer boring conversations about tire strategy.” www.livenation.hu

UNTIL JUNE 8 AT THE CERVANTES INSTITUTE > Photographer Stefan Leitner and the producers of the award-winning travel documentary titled ‘The Old, the Young & the Sea’ take visitors to this multimedia exhibition on an adventurous journey along the less discovered green of northern Spain. During the production of their movie, the crew framed a fascinating image of the North’s landscapes, nature and urban areas. It’s the portrayed fishermen, surfers, environmental activists and nomad travellers that add spice to the scenery of España Verde that spreads along the north shore of the Iberian Peninsula and is divided by four autonomous regions: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country. www.oldyoungsea.com

NIGHT OF THE MUSEUMS 2014

DANUBE CARNIVAL / DUNA KARNEVÁL JUNE 14-22, DIFFERENT VENUES IN BUDAPEST > The first Danube Carnival was organized in 2000 as part of the Millennium celebrations commemorating the turn of the century, as well as the 1000th anniversary of the Hungarian State. This summer welcomes the 19th production of this event that is “traditionally all about traditions.” The most spectacular part of the carnival is the procession of both Hungarian and foreign folk ensembles, held this year on June 16. During this program, the Danube Promenade is crowded with youngsters, women dressed in traditional costumes of swaying, gathered skirts, starched blouses, and fitted bodices with ribbons in their hair and men in britches and brimmed, round, felt hats. The procession moves through town to Pesti Vigadó, where it ends with performances by 1000 singers and dancers, during a gala event. www.dunakarneval.hu

ParticiPating artists: Zbynek Baladrán (CZ), Basim Magdy (EG), Tomás Moravec (CZ), Péter Puklus (HU) > “There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory, which states that this has already happened.” Douglas Adams This exhibition collects bizarre and ironic models of the Universe. Instead of indicating any absolute theory or actual answer about the sense of the Universe, these models suggest some humorous and cynical strategies compiled from studio leftovers. The artworks in the exhibition show some self-denying proposals, which are universal and meaning-less at the same time and which also forecast their own failure. www.trafo.hu

BUDAPEST SUMMER FESTIVAL

1ST NATIONAL SALON OF ARCHITECTURE – 100% CREATIVITY UNTIL SEP 7 AT THE ART HALL > 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hungarian architect Miklós Ybl and has been dubbed the Year of Architecture. Countless events and exhibitions celebrate the creative work of architects, who have traditionally been a vehicle of innovation. The 1st National Salon of Architecture is one such exhibition, which is large and quite comprehensive. The extensive display presents more than 200 buildings and their designers, and provides a cross section of exciting Hungarian architecture of today and the recent past with the help of models, giant prints, films, designs, and works of art and documentation. Realized on 2500 square meters, this exhibit meets the demands of the broadest range of audiences, by presenting a dichotomy of spectacular buildings of high architectural value and significant development projects from the past 15 years, as well as the churches, communal spaces and emblematic houses of small communities. www.mucsarnok.hu

JUNE 13-AUGUST 30 AT MARGARET ISLAND AND IN VÁROSMAJOR > Budapest Summer Festival offers theater performances for adults and children, musicals, dance shows and several concerts throughout the summer. This year the festival commemorates the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, hosting the Globe Theater on its world tour performance of Hamlet. A festival is capable of building bridges between cultures: this year The Moscow Classical Ballet will enrich Russian-Hungarian cultural relations through performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Firebird. The program of the festival connects Ferenc Snétberger’s opening concert with the Holocaust Memorial Year and makes room for internationally acclaimed musicians such as Félix Lajkó, Boban Markovic and the Buena Vista Social Club, and presents grand operas with domestic artists and the best ensembles with international star vocalists at Margaret Island. www.szabadter.hu

15TH HARLEY-DAVIDSON OPEN ROAD FEST JUNE 4-8 IN ALSÓÔRS > Harley-Davidson is more than a brand of motorcycles; it is a lifestyle. This year the company celebrates its 111th anniversary and the 15th year of the popular Open Road Fest. Organizers believe that there is a little Harley in everyone, so they expect even those who don’t ride to join the party. The venue for the annual moto-craze is again Alsóôrs, a little village beside Lake Balaton. The program will include rider and stunt shows, a great parade and a musical line-up of over 30 bands, including British legend Bonnie Tyler as the headliner. www.openroadfest.hu

KOREAN TREASURES FROM SEOUL UNTIL JUNE 10 AT THE KOREAN CULTURAL CENTER > This exhibition features up to 150 handcrafted artifacts – mainly functional objects, such as folk crafts, woodwork, personal ornaments, music instruments and pottery. The collection arrived from Seoul, and it aims to showcase contemporary and traditional artworks alike, masterpieces that carry the refined beauty of Korea, that is alive even in simple everyday objects. www.koreaikultura.hu

w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m | D I P L O M A C Y & T R A D E | JUNE 2014

www.stefanleitner.com, Péter Puklus, Greypixel, Zsófia Raffay

UNTIL JUNE 19 AT TRAFÓ

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FATAL JUMP FROM A STOOL

ALL OVER BUDAPEST ON JUNE 21 > Have a sleepover with history and spend the night in museums! On June 21, museums open their doors to visitors until 2:30 am for this annual event which celebrates its 12th anniversary this year. There will be more than 1,000 programs offered at some 100 locations within the capital, all of which can be visited with one single ticket in the form of an armband. In addition, visitors with an armband are entitled to use the Museum Bus. www.muzej.hu

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