Diplomacy & Trade 2015 March by Diplomacy&Trade

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DEAL SEVEN HOURS IN HUNGARY SEE MORE ON page 18

C O UN T RY F O C US

Sweden “I think for any ambassador arriving to a new posting, it is important to try to learn as much as possible about the country. Last fall, when I came here, three main goals came to my mind: To deepen and broaden the political ties between our two countries, to get to know the many Swedish companies here in order to assist in further increasing our investments in Hungary, and to achieve a genuine and respectful dialogue on common values between our two countries,” the Swedish Ambassador to Hungary, Niclas Trouvé tells Diplomacy & Trade. see articles on pages 8-14

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letter from the publisher

Diplomatic boom in February - British Foreign Secretary in Budapest page 19

Since the February 17 visit to Hungary by Vladimir Putin, analysts have been puzzled as to what the real purpose of the Russian President’s visit was. In our extended Diplomacy section, we share with you some insights from the past month’s unusually high number of events regarding Hungary’s foreign relations. The country in focus in the March issue of Diplomacy & Trade is Sweden as this year marks the 70th anniversary of the disappearance in Budapest of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, the savior of tens of thousands of Jews. Sweden is also an important investor in Hungary with about EUR one billion FDI coming from the Nordic country in the past 25 years. There are close to 200 Swedish companies present here, providing jobs for more than 12,000 people. You can learn from the interview with Swedish Ambassador Niclas Trouvé how many times the two, otherwise remotely situated, countries have met at the cross-roads of history, how proud he and his Embassy are of what Wallenberg did, what we should learn from history and how he sees bilateral economic, cultural, social and civil ties. We present the activities of the 20-year-old Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, tell you about how the trade promotion agency Business Sweden contributes to a more livable environment in the Hungarian capital and why the Scandinavian House cultural center in Budapest is called ‘the 4th Scandinavian embassy’. In the continuation of presenting Hungarian relations with China, we cover the Ambassador’s participation in the Lunar New Year events, the Budapest Confucius Institute, the Chinese-Hungarian Bilingual School and an exhibition on the treasures of imperial China, in addition to an official and an unofficial account on China. Also in this issue, our international analysis (on the strengthening of populism in southern Europe), a feature on the start of regular bus public transport in Budapest 100 years ago and articles on diplomatic life. Witty Leaks is authored this month by the Slovenian ambassador.

contents 08-14 Country Focus

Sweden – Ambassador Trouvé: Partnership and dialog based on values Ericsson: the Connection A Chamber for innovation and courage For sustainable urban environment Chinese offers to East Central Europe A house for Scandinavia in Budapest Nobel, the everlasting prize of a life

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Shale gas: what the scientists say Migration rates in Europe UNICEF service center in Budapest

27 Culture

16-19 Diplomacy

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The Ambassador's favorite things Why did Putin visit Hungary? / Former Slovenian President decorated / Polish FM visit / Farewell to a U.S. diplomat / Foreign Secretary in Budapest

Budapest buses: 100th anniversary

Gastronomy | Hospitality | What’s on

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Ambassador celebrates New Year Providing a taste of China A European who speaks Chinese Steadily developing cooperation Multicultural and quality education The treasures of ancient China

15 Economy

Slowing growth - analysis

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07 Political Analysis

Steadily developing cooperation Hungarian Ambassador in Beijing page 27

DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, HUNGARIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF BEIJING

Peter Freed

Imperial court culture - the treasures of page 23 ancient China in Budapest

news

news.

THINGS ARE IMPROVING, PEOPLE ARE BETTER OFF Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held his 17th annual evaluation speech at the end of February. He claimed that “our flag is flying high; everyone can see that. Everyone can see that we are a people’s party community, based on Christiandemocratic foundations – the ideal, guiding star of which is a civic Hungary. I do not think that this will change in the next hundred years.” He blamed modern-day migration because “millions of Western European citizens feel that they have to work ever more for less money, just to keep their jobs. Europe is facing questions which can no longer be answered within the framework of liberal multiculturalism.” Referring to the month of February when there was more diplomatic activity than Hungary had seen in a long time (including the Merkel and Putin visits), he claimed that “we should not be afraid to fight for the justice of our cause. Believe me, the world appreciates and acknowledges this. This month alone, one head of state, three prime ministers and nine foreign ministers have visited our country. They had good reason to come here, as Hungary has been placed on the map of European politics.” He said his government’s achievements included higher value of wages and a rising employment level. He claimed families were better off due to tax allowances and welfare contribution allowances. Critics from the democratic opposition replied after the speech by saying that the Prime Minister did not mention the inclusion in the employment figure the number of public workers who are paid half the minimum wage and that he ‘forgot’ to talk about the higher level of taxes and duties his government has introduced in the past few years. Viktor Orbán stressed that his government will focus on everyday hard working people and their families because Hungarians must be protected from being exploited and cheated. He justified his government’s self-determination in its policies by saying that “we cannot be successful if we can only be servants in our own country, if we have no independence. National sovereignty is a fundamental question. National sovereignty gives us a better life, which is our core interest.”

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DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, HUNGARIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF BEIJING

AMERICAN-HUNGARIAN SOCIAL SECURITY AGREEMENT U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Colleen Bell and Hungarian Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog have signed an agreement in Budapest regulating social security issues between the two countries. According to the agreement, citizens will be eligible for pensions regardless in which country they have earned the right for it, while those citizens who spend less than five years in the partner country will only have to pay contributions in their home country. It will improve social security protection for people who work in both countries. Presently, some workers who divide their careers between the United States and Hungary fail to qualify for social security benefits from either country because they do not meet minimum eligibility requirements. The agreement allows credits to be combined from both countries to qualify workers and their family members for pro-rated U.S. or Hungarian social security benefits. “The aim of the agreement is to mutually increase the quality of life for citizens in both countries,” Zoltán Balog explained at the signing ceremony. He said it would benefit both Hungarians living in the U.S. and U.S. citizens living in Hungary. Balog also said that the agreement contains specific regulations for disadvantaged workers, benefiting about 10,000 people between the two countries. “This is the culmination of six years of hard work and on-going consultations between the governments of the two countries,” Ambassador Bell said. “Such high-level cooperation indicates mutual respect among our countries, as well as the joint desire to create a more transparent and sustainable business environment,” she added. Before the Agreement can take effect, it must be reviewed by the U.S. Congress and the Hungarian Parliament. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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MANAGER of the YEAR The Hungarian Association of Executives, which celebrates its 25th anniversary, handed over the Manager of the Year, the Young Manager of the Year and the Leadership Excellence awards on February 28 during the 21st Executive Ball and Awards Gala at the Budapest Marriott Hotel. The Manager of the Year title was awarded to Dr. Ágnes Fábián, the Managing Director of Henkel Hungary Ltd., the Young Manager of the Year title went to Gabriella Szécsi, the Managing Director of BI-KA Logistics Ltd., while the Leadership Excellence special award was received by Tibor Vona, the founder and executive director of ExperiDance Production. The prizes were awarded by the presidential board of the Hungarian Association of Executives. The winners were selected on the basis of business efficiency and effectiveness, past success, as well as corporate reputation. The prominence of the Manager of the Year award mainly arises from the fact that it focuses on the executive profession itself and points out positive leadership patterns, which is independent of what sector of the economy or society in which the executive or the leader operates.

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company news company news.

HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT TO BUY INTO ERSTE BANK

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced in February that his government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will each seek to acquire 15% stakes in the Hungarian affiliate of Austria's Erste Bank. "The purchase price will be negotiated between Erste and the two parties based on market valuation methods after conducting due diligence with support from external advisors, as is customary for similar M&A transactions," Erste said. After signing an agreement with the leaders of the two banks, the Prime Minister said the government will “significantly” reduce the sectoral tax on banks in 2016-17, with further reductions to follow in 2018. In 2016, the special tax – introduced as a temporary ‘crisis tax’ in 2010 – will be reduced by a total HUF

LINAMAR EXPANDS PRODUCTION FACILITY IN HUNGARY

Canada-based diversified global manufacturing company Linamar has set up a new factory facility with a HUF five billion (EUR 16 mn) investment in Orosháza, SE Hungary, 200 kilometers southeast of Budapest. The company, which has several factories in the southern region of the Great Plain, received HUF 1.6 billion (EUR 5.16 m) non-refundable EU funding for the project which created 150 jobs, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga (pictured on the right)announced. Csaba Havasi, the Vice President of Operations at Linamar Manufacturing Group Europe

(pictured on the left of Canadian ambassador Lisa Helfand) pointed out that this facility development provides Linamar with the possibility of realizing over EUR 250 million in further sales. In his speech, the minister labeled Canada an important economic partner for Hungary. He said Hungary is receiving the biggest volume of Canadian capital in the central and eastern European region. Highlighting the role of Linamar Ltd. in the economic recovery of the region, Mihály Varga said the company gives jobs to more than 2,000 employees and through its nearly 1,500 local suppliers, supports thousands more people in Hungary. The company also actively takes part in the development of dual education/ training, by which it ensures appropriate labor not only for itself but also for the development of the government’s new training system. As regards the 2014-2020 programming period, Varga said it is a clear objective of the cabinet to maintain the favorable momentum of economic growth achieved in 2014. To this end, Hungary will receive EU funds totaling nearly EUR 40 billion (some HUF 12,000 billion), including local co-financing, over the next seven years.

60 billion (EUR 195m). The rate of the tax, as well as calculation of the tax base will also change. The opposition Socialist (MSZP), Liberal and green LMP parties have slammed the government for obtaining a stake in Erste Bank Hungary. The Socialists said that “the corrupt government’s move” could cost taxpayers HUF hundreds of billions that they said should be used “to make the life of people easier” and help Hungary’s ailing businesses. As part of the deal, Erste Hungary promised to give a boost to the Hungarian economy by agreeing to pump an extra EUR 550 mn in loans into it. According to Business News Europe, this commitment is vital because the heavy hits the banking sector has taken since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party took power in 2010 have led banks to slow on lending, which left the Magyar Nemzeti Bank as the only significant driver of credit expansion.

GE TO DOUBLE STAFF AT BUDAPEST SERVICE CENTER

Since General Electric opened its service center in Budapest a year ago, the growth of the facility has surpassed the company’s preliminary expectations. Today, employee headcount stands at nearly 1,000 and the goal is to double staff within a year, the head of GE’s Global Operations Europe, Shane Fitzsimons and the Senior Vice President for Global Operations Bjorn Bergabo, revealed in an interview with Hungarian business news portal napi.hu. GE picked Hungary as the location for its service center because the company has a history here and all industries are present. GE is the largest U.S. investor in Hungary, employing more than 13,000 people. Last year, at the opening ceremony, it was said the new service center – that uses cutting-edge technology to offer integrated business services to GE divisions both in Europe and outside the continent – would create 1,300 new jobs over the next few years. According to the two executives, the service center has exceeded their expectations. It kicked off its operations with 200 employees but headcount has now grown to 900. The Budapest center offers its services to about 40 countries, throughout Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Most of the facility’s work is in connection with finances but it also offers IT and HR services. The increase in employees is taking place gradually. For now, the service center is recruiting mostly financial experts. The plan is to boost staff of the three service centers – in Europe, Asia (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) and the United States (Cincinnati, Ohio) – to 2,000 each and the other two (Pudong , Shanghai, China and Monterrey, Mexico) would operate with a 1,000-strong staff each. GE has been present in Hungary since the end of 1989 when it purchased a majority stake in light bulb manufacturer Tungsram. Since then, it has expanded all its divisions in Hungary. It operates 12 factories in Hungary as well as three regional business centers and three R&D units.

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analysis

political analysis.

WHAT NEXT, EUROPE?

POPULIST MOVEMENTS MAY BUMP AGAINST THE STONEWALL OF REALITY

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BY TAMÁS MAGYARICS

The specter of left- and right-wing populism is haunting Europe. A bunch of – sometimes relatively newly founded – political parties and movements demand that the economic policies of the mainstream political forces be thrown out of the window. The challengers’ favorite targets are the post-recession era austerity policy and anti-inflationary efforts, especially those of the German government. Some of these populist forces in Southern Europe claim that the financial burdens imposed on their countries are simply unsustainable, and something should – must – be done to alleviate these burdens and/or spread them more evenly on the creditors (no matter whether they are countries or private financial institutions). Their justification is that the creditors, the countries involved, and even the appropriate institutions of the EU are also responsible for the rather dire economic and fiscal situation in nations such as Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. Of course, the economies of the countries named are facing different problems; for instance, Ireland is coming out of the recession and, to some extent, is the ‘poster boy’ for making enormous efforts to lift itself out of the recession, while, on the other end of the spectrum, Greece seems to be in the most hopeless situation with its bailout of some EUR 240 billion and a drop of its GDP by some 25% in the past few years.

Populist wish list The breakthrough of the populist parties came in Greece, where after the election in January 2015, the left-wing Syriza formed a government w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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with the anti-Atlanticist, right-wing Independent Greeks. Syriza’s charismatic leader, Alexis Tsipras promised sweeping changes during the election campaign; even if we discount some them as designed to win the support of people who do not care much about the details, his ‘Wunschlist’ is very impressive or disturbing – depending on one’s point of view. Among the changes,, Syriza demanded that privatization be halted, pensions reinstated, public servants who had been laid off should be rehired, a EUR 751.00 monthly minimum wage should be introduced, etc. Tsipras has not gone into the details of how his government will be able to finance all of these expensive programs with an immense sovereign debt and under obligation to meet the debt repayment deadlines. As of now, the flamboyant Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is at odds with his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble; the Greek attempts to have part of their debt written off is adamantly opposed by Berlin, which has been staking its leadership in Europe on supporting austerity policies in each of the countries which got into deep trouble as a result of loose monetary policy and the mismanagement of the economy within the EU, especially in the Euro-zone countries. A demand for write-off is not likely to stop at the borders of Greece if Tsipras and Varoufakis are successful in their endeavor; Ireland, Portugal, and Spain might as well demand a similar treatment. The ‘northern tier’ nations of the EU, such as Germany, the Netherlands and Finland are dead against such a solution, partly because of the increasing strength of their own populist forces, including the Alternative für Deutschland or the True Finns.

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Podemos? The events in Greece are threatening with a ripple-effect in a major restructuring of the political life in other countries, too, especially in Spain. At the bottom of the recession, a popular youth movement (the unemployment rate is close to 50% in some age groups), the Indignados gave voice to their protests against austerity measures. Then, in January 2014 a new party, the Podemos (‘We can’) emerged under the leadership of Pablo Iglesias. The new political force dedicated itself to fighting the dominant two-party system, which they call ‘la casta’. The Podemos is unashamedly a neo-Marxist party, especially in the Latin American tradition of Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales. Its political platform for the November 2015 parliamentary elections in Spain includes the cancellation of the ‘unjust debt’, public control over energy and banks, and withdrawal from NATO, among others.

Wall of reality Despite the fact that Sr. Iglesias was campaigning with Mr. Tsipras in Greece, there are ideological differences between the two leaders and their parties. It will be rather difficult for the Podemos to repeat the success of the Syriza for several reasons; one of them is that the former’s left-wing rival, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) is in much better shape (with some 18% of the popular support) than the Greek socialists, the PASOK was (with about 8% of support). Moreover, in spite of all the serious economic and financial problems, Spain is in a much better position than Greece was before the elections. Nevertheless, the left-of-center political forces in general are facing a dilemma, which they have a problem

solving: in the words of the colorful leader of the Italian Five-Star Movement, Beppe Grillo, “you can defend EMU policies, or you can defend your political base, but you cannot do both.” The danger for Syriza (and, perhaps, later for Podemos) is that once in government, they bump against the stone wall of reality and it is more than certain that they will not be able to deliver on all their promises. It must be added that influential political forces inside and outside Europe will be likely to take all measures (not necessarily all of them openly) to make Syriza, and by extension populist forces, fail in Europe. If this happens within the next few months, then the chances of Podemos are bound to decline at the elections later this year.

American example However, populist policies and movements in Europe seem to be making a difference of sorts. The European Central Bank (ECB) under Mario Draghi (and allegedly in opposition to the Germans) has introduced what is called ‘quantitative easing’, that is, pumping more money into the market by buying government bonds. The ECB is basically following suit: that is exactly how the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) responded to the recession and what then Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner urged on the Europeans – to no avail. It was also the Americans who criticized the German government’s policy of pursuing a balanced budget at a time when the Euro-zone was struggling. It seems more likely than not that the political exigencies will make the governments in Europe give priority to economic growth, especially creating jobs, perhaps at the expense of fiscal orthodoxies.

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Ericsson: Inventing the Future

Swedish Chamber of Commerce

Business Sweden

The House of Scandinavia in Budapest

The Everlasting Prize

The Swedish multinational provider of communications technology employs over 1,700 people in Hungary .. . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 11

The Swedish Chamber celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Its member companies employ over 12,000 people directly. . PAGE 12

In Hungary, this Swedish trade and business council offers business opportunities for Swedish companies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 12

The Scandinavian House Foundation was set up in 2013 to promote cultural relations between Hungary and the Nordic countries . . . . PAGE 13

Alfred Nobel's fame cannot be rivalled by any sports or rock star - the prize he founded proved to be an everlasting idea. . . . . PAGE 14

PARTNERSHIP and DIALOGUE BASED ON VALUES

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with the Nordic-Baltic group of eight countries (six of them EU members) often coordinating and integrating their policies and actions. “Within the EU, Hungary has a special relationship with a different formation, the Visegrád Group (V4). Together, these two groups comprise a very large part of the European Union. We have much to learn from each other and we have good opportunities to make a difference and influence the course of Europe. However, we should not aim at making a cemented bloc but at forming a close dialogue and co-operation that could serve our interests and those of Europe as a whole,” he adds.

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“Sweden and Hungary have had an excellent and long-standing relationship for many years, but I think there is ample scope for even more of contacts, co-operation and dialogue. In my first months here, it is the word ‘values’ that comes to my mind: how to achieve a dialogue on our common values and those that we sometimes define as more specific Swedish or Nordic values – not only between the governments, but also with the companies,

with civil society, with the media and with the Hungarian people in different walks of life,” the Ambassador, who presented his credentials to the Hungarian President in October, 2014 points out. Sweden and Hungary belong to the same family, that of the European Union. “This is the defining feature of our relationship, we share the same values; we share the same home market, an internal market that has free movement of people, capital, goods and services. Also, the two countries are about the same size as far as the population is concerned,” he says. [see chart on page 9] Inside the EU, Sweden co-operates particularly closely

photo by OLEKSIY

Sweden and Hungary belong to the same family, that of the European Union.

BY SÁNDOR LACZKÓ

photo by DÁVID

▶ CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

HARANGOZÓ

INTERVIEW WITH SWEDISH AMBASSADOR NICLAS TROUVÉ

swedish focus

swedish focus.

Learning from the past

THE KING’S VISIT In 1714, the Swedish King Charles XII was riding through Hungary and spent a night in Debrecen with a small group of officers. As Ambassador Trouvé explains, the tragic story preceding that visit was that “Sweden lost basically its whole army and its empire in a long war against Russia (in the decisive battle of Poltava in 1709). The King found refuge with Sweden’s ally Turkey for five years before starting an extremely rapid horseback ride home through the entire of Europe until reaching the Swedish outpost of Stralsund in northern Germany. On the way, he stopped in Debrecen. The Ambassador adds that recently “I was invited to the 300 year anniversary of the king’s visit where I had the chance to tell the story and to cite from the King’s diary in which he noted that ‘this remote city in Hungary has a very good library’. Now, I myself visited that library in the Lutheran Collegium – and it was really fantastic just as the King noted! Of course, I used the opportunity to meet with all the Swedish students at the University of Debrecen, soon to be qualified as doctors and dentists.”

Raoul Wallenberg “One of the first things that I was happy and proud to do when I arrived here was to prepare an event in January this year to commemorate the disappearance – or more precisely, the abduction – of the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg exactly 70 years ago here in Budapest. We are especially proud that he was part of this very Embassy, so, he was actually a colleague of ours. That gives an extra importance to his remembrance here at the Embassy and we try to keep alive the spirit that he represented. Remember, he was not a career diplomat, he came to the Hungarian capital with a very specific mission: to save the Hungarian Jews from deportation. As we know, he managed to do exactly that – but unfortunately, far from all of them could be saved. I am happy to note that his name is very much in the mindset of most people here in Hungary. You see streets, schools named after

there and about 40 of them died in the last major battle of the ‘Rákóczi War of Independence’ (170311). They are buried there in Romhány (north of Budapest). According to Ambassador Trouvé, “we have had relations for such a long time and our roads crossed on several occasions like during this battle, or through the activities of Wallenberg (and that of the Embassy staff as well as the International Red Cross and many others) in 1944-45. Then, again, in 1956: the Hungarian struggle for independence and sovereignty was acknowledged and followed with keen interest and sympathy in Sweden at the time. To many Swedes, it was the defining moment when they learnt a lot about the struggle and the courage of the Hungarian people – and of the tragic suffering that followed. Some 8,000 Hungarians came to Sweden as refugees. They were followed by thousands more in the coming decades. According to

At his visit to Debrecen, Niclas Trouvé suggested that we all learn from history. “The first lesson we should learn from history is exactly that: we should learn from history, but we should not try to re-write it – and definitely not re-live it! There are sometimes tendencies in our societies to sort of look backwards and try to change what happened in the past. That will, of course, never work! History is history. The importance for us is to look forward and to learn from the mistakes so that we don’t repeat them. For example, a crucial lesson is that democracy and independence cannot be taken for granted – we have to defend our freedom and sovereignty all the time. Central to that is to protect the values of democracy, humanity and tolerance. Otherwise, history could come back and haunt us. In neighboring Ukraine, for instance, we see how freedom and sovereignty are being threatened. To the south of Europe, millions are fleeing from terror, violence, oppression and poverty. It is our duty as human beings to reach out and help when people suffer”, the Ambassador emphasizes.

220 billion (some EUR 700 mn). For the first three quarters of 2014, the Swedish exports were up by 12% and the imports from Hungary by 8.4%. But the Ambassador wants to broaden the picture: “we know today that most Swedish companies have established production facilities, retail outlets or research centers in Hungary, rather than shipping goods here from Sweden. Also, a large part of the companies are multinationals that trade globally, rather than bilaterally. The total value of our bilateral economic ties is, therefore, much more complex and broader than the traditional trade figures show. In addition, we are now part of the same European market without borders. Let us also not forget about the services – it is not all about products.” The number of Swedish companies in Hungary can be as high as 150-200, “many of which are household names in Hungary and have been here for manymany years. However, I believe we can do even more on the economic side, especially in the field of investments. Swedish companies have invested very substantially here in production facilities (like Electrolux) and some have established large

photo by OLEKSIY

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There are sometimes tendencies in our societies to sort of look backwards and try to change what happened in the past. That will, of course, never work! History is history. Wallenberg, monuments in his memory and there are still people who personally remember him. I have met people – or the children of those – who were saved by Wallenberg,” the Ambassador stresses. However, he says, even more important than remembrance is focus on the future as he highlighted at one of the commemorative events recently, “let’s focus our attention on the new generations and on the values that Wallenberg represented. We should never forget what happened seven decades ago, but it is even more important to make sure that the history is not repeated. There are signs in Europe today that I’m extremely worried about, such as increasing anti-Semitism, increasing islamophobia – with different roots, but all part of a broader xenophobia, of not being tolerant to other human beings, being afraid of people who are different or who come from other places in the world. That is why we should always remember what Wallenberg stood for: humanity, dignity and tolerance. Again: A dialogue on these values is very important.”

Cross-roads in history At the Ambassador’s residence, there is a picture on the wall depicting Swedes and Hungarians fighting together in 1710 in the battle of Romhány in the Hungarian war of independence against Austrian Habsburg rule. Some 500 Swedish soldiers fought

estimates, there are at least 30,000 Swedish citizens of direct Hungarian origin nowadays – and many more with a more distant ancestry.” The next important phase, he adds, was 1989 when the Iron Curtain was finally lifted and “it was possible for us again to see Hungary as a reborn free nation – something that was met with extreme joy in Sweden. Today, our two countries are members of the European Union, completing a long process during which my country has tried to extend political, economic and humanitarian support for Hungary.”

FACTS COMPARED

Economic ties According to the latest statistics, the volume of Swedish exports to Hungary in 2013 amounted to some HUF 150 billion (close to EUR half a bn), while Swedish imports from Hungary were around HUF

HUNGARY SWEDEN 93,028 sq km 450,295 sq km AREA 110 56 country comparison to the world: 9,919,128 (July 2014 est.) 9,723,809 (July 2014 est.) POPULATION 90 91 country comparison to the world: -0.21% (2014 est.) 0.79% (2014 est.) POPULATION GROWTH RATE 214 140 country comparison to the world 9.26 births/1,000 population 11.92 births/1,000 population BIRTH RATE 214 163 country comparison to the world 75.46 years 71.15 years LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH 93 100 country comparison to the world 1.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population 5.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population NET MIGRATION RATE 55 25 country comparison to the world $19,800 (2013 est.) $40,900 (2013 est.) GDP - PER CAPITA (PPP) 71 26 country comparison to the world 10.5% (2013 est.) 8.1% (2013 est.) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE 112 90 country comparison to the world 11,580,000 (2012) 11,643,000,000 (2012) TELEPHONES - MOBILE/CELLULAR 67 71 country comparison to the world 41 (2013) 231 (2013) AIRPORTS 104 25 country comparison to the world

research and development centers (like Ericsson) – both for the global market.” In fact, the Swedish economic presence here could be said to represent basically all areas. The daily life of a Hungarian family can be covered by Swedish products and services (many of them originating from Hungary), he says jokingly. “They could live and work in buildings built by Skanska; these homes could be furnished by IKEA and the offices by Kinnarps; Electrolux could provide the kitchenware and other household appliances; Ericsson could make them connected to the world with wireless solutions; clothes for the family could come from H&M; hygiene and paper products for the kitchen and bathroom could be provided by SCA; the bottles containing milk or fruit juice for breakfast could come from Tetra Pak and the car in the garage should, of course, be a Volvo or a Saab. If we accomplish this, then, I can leave Hungary with particular pride one day,” the Ambassador smiles. The Ambassador is of the view that the reason for Swedish investors being in Hungary is that “this country has an educated, hard-working and loyal workforce.

Source: World Factbook

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AUTOLIV CREATES 700 NEW JOBS IN HUNGARY

By expanding its current facility, Swedish automotive supplier Autoliv will create 700 new jobs in Sopronkövesd, NW Hungary, to make it the largest seatbelt manufacturing plant in Europe. A new unit of 15,000 square meters is planned to be constructed by 2018 in addition to the current production hall of 19,000 square meters. The Hungarian government has decided to contribute HUF 1.5 billion (over EUR 4.8 mn) to the investment of HUF 11 billion. The volume of production may double as a result of the investment: as many as 40 million seatbelts may be produced annually. Autoliv has made a commitment to increase the ratio of Hungarian suppliers from 5 to 20% in terms of raw materials, and from 30 to 50% regarding machines. The Swedish company has been present in Hungary since 1993; currently, it provides jobs for 1,760 people, making it one of the larger Swedish investors in the country. The manufacturing plant at Sopronkövesd is a supplier of Audi, BMW, Daimler, Volvo or Volkswagen, among others.

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technologically advanced defense co-operation. The SAAB Gripen fighter aircrafts serving the Hungarian air force have paved the way for an excellent dayto-day co-operation with an even larger future potential. Also, there is a sizeable Swedish military contingent living and working in Hungary as part of the Heavy Airlift Wing in Pápa. As Ambassador, he always hopes that more Hungarians would visit his country but finds it even more interesting that so many Swedes have discovered Budapest and Hungary. “This was not the case 10-15 years ago. There are many-many of my countrymen coming to Hungary, especially young people. I often hear groups speaking Swedish on the streets of Budapest. The main attractions are the historical and cultural treasures, combined with spas for recreation and health tourism, as well as gastronomy including fine wines – and, of course, a lot of shopping. Links will be further facilitated this spring by the launch of direct flights five times a week by the Swedish flag carrier SAS between Stockholm and Budapest.”

Crime stories and music Within the field of cultural relations, the Ambassador believes that “we have a lot to learn from Hungary. You have an ancient and rich culture including a fantastic range of individuals with important cultural and scientific breakthroughs. We are encouraged that Hungarians show interest in some recent Swedish phenomena like our successes in writing crime stories – incidentally, many of the bestseller authors are women. The key could be that people find different (and not only the positive) aspects of Swedish society interesting. We’ll have two young female authors coming to the Budapest Book Festival later this spring, while Hungary will be the M A R C H

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focus country in the large Göteborg International Book Fair this fall.” He adds that Swedish movies always create interest in Hungary and Swedish music is popular here. “After the U.S. and the U.K., Sweden is the largest music producer in the world – and it is not only ABBA and Roxette (that is coming to Hungary this May). We also have an interesting jazz scene as well as hip-hop and house music – and every kid knows the name Avicii. We believe that the new, trendy music scene presents a new face of Sweden, so we try to bring more and more bands to Hungary, too. Of course, it is also possible to listen to the music through the Swedish invention Spotify if you can’t make it to the concerts… ”

Rewarded with Budapest Looking at his postings and responsibilities in the past decade (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan), this position in Hungary may seem like a reward for Niclas Trouvé for his work on much more difficult terrain. “After eight years of war, it is probably time to do something else… It is not good for anyone to live under such circumstances for too long. Coming to Hungary as ambassador is a reward in itself. Every day that I’m here, it is more and more interesting – even apart from the fact that this city, as well as the country, is very likable. Life as a diplomat is very good here, the country can profit from its location, culture, food and wine, etc. Also, the challenges that we meet here are interesting, be it economic, political, consular or cultural promotion activities. So, I very much look forward to the rest of my term here in Budapest –and to seeing all parts of this beautiful country,” he concludes.

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with the Hungarian government in a close and fruitful dialogue. The Government is doing a lot to incentivize, to further create jobs in this country. The prospective employers are the large foreign companies – like those of Sweden – so, we need to continue to our cooperation as it takes two to tango.” Another very important part of Sweden’s relations with Hungary is, of course, the strategic and very

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Another advantage business leaders tell me about is Hungary’s geographical location in the center of Europe, close to bigger markets, having excellent infrastructure and communication. However, they also mention the importance of stability and predictability. Too many changes of the conditions (like that of the legal and tax environment) are never good for business. On these issues of business conditions, we are working together

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INVENTING THE FUTURE ERICSSON, THE CONNECTION FOR BILLIONS OF PEOPLE

“We are the ones who establish the connection between two mobile telephone sets when one is making a call but we are also there when data is transferred between devices connected to a network. Our services, software and infrastructure – especially in mobility, broadband and the cloud – are enabling the telecom industry and other sectors to do better business, increase efficiency, improve the user experience and capture new opportunities. With approximately 118,000 professionals and customers in 180 countries, we combine global scale with technology and services leadership. We support networks that connect more than 2.5 billion subscribers. 40% of the world’s mobile traffic is carried over Ericsson networks,” the Managing Director (MD) of Ericsson Hungary, Roland Jakab explains to Diplomacy & Trade the role of the Swedish multinational provider of communications technology and services.

First ideas of future inventions Ericsson has been in Hungary for over 100 years (since 1911). Currently, the Hungarian subsidiary employs about 1,700 people, of which 1,200 are engaged in research and development (R&D). Ericsson’s R&D center in Budapest is the company’s largest in Europe outside Sweden. Its unique feature is that all parts of the innovation chain can be found here: education, basic research, applied research and industrial implementation. “In other words, the staff in this R&D unit (over 95% of them are Hungarians) is involved in inventing things that will fundamentally concern basically everybody. Often, future inventions are put on paper for the first time in Budapest. Then, the process continues as applied research to figure out how the original thought could be utilized.

Later, the implementation phase is about how to bring about that thing in its industrial form. Among colleagues working in this center, there are over a hundred with PhD degrees, which is unique even within Ericsson. All this means that Hungarian engineers have considerable influence on the wired and wireless broadband communication of the future,” the MD points out. The other 500 staff are those who carry out different engineering and business services related to Ericsson’s business, covering not only Hungary but the European markets, as well. According to Jakab, “we have products and solutions that need to be installed, put into operation, fitted into existing systems or introduced as a completely new system. This could be the introduction a new feature at a mobile service provider, its fine tuning and/or systems integration or relevant support services. In Hungary, Ericsson supplies network technology for the market leading Hungarian mobile services provider, Magyar Telekom that has a 47% share on the Hungarian market.”

CONNECTING BILLIONS

Roland Jakab reminds us that Ericsson`s vision is the Networked Society – a society were connectivity is the starting point for new ways of innovating, collaborating and socializing. The Networked Society starts with connections, between devices and things but more importantly it is about the big ideas that become possible and will shape benefits to people. It took 100 years to connect 1 billion places, but only 25 years to connect 5 billion people. Roll forward five years and we can only imagine what a world will look like when everything is connected. Everything that benefits from a connection will have one. We are now at an inflection point where the next wave of innovation in the form of mobile, broadband and cloud will be the catalyst for an entirely new economic model.

Enabling the change-makers Mobility, broadband and cloud – this is the triple force, mentioned by the Managing Director (who has been with Ericsson since 2000), that induces change and may bring about new branches of industry. He mentions the example of healthcare where “there are already devices available that you place on yourself and these continuously forward information about your state of health. This can be managed proactively but, of course, the healthcare system should be prepared to receive and process these data.” He describes Ericsson as a company that is behind these already present or upcoming changes – a company that can make this happen. “We are the one who develop these extremely quick and extremely modern networks and put them

in operation so that these applications can be created and used to the benefit of the clients of our clients. This is what we term as ‘we enable the change-makers’. We are the ones who enable those actually carrying out the changes. This then will lead to more productivity, better suiting the customer expectations and better market position.”

photos by COURTESY

OF ERICSSON, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

More dialog needed

PRIZES BY ERICSSON HUNGARY

The Ericsson Prize (established in 1999) recognizes the work of natural science teachers in public education in two categories: for the popularization of mathematics and physics and for the supporting of talents. We ask two professional physics and mathematics societies to evaluate the applications and select the most worthy of this prize in the given year. The prize (whose latest recipients are pictured above) is handed over in a big ceremony attended by the Swedish ambassador. Ericsson – together with the architectural design software firm Graphisoft and the pharmaceutical company Richter – established a foundation for Hungarian Natural Science Education in 2000. The foundation annually gives out lifetime achievement awards to secondary school teachers of biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics, two in each category. The ‘Rátz Tanár Úr’ award is named after László Rátz (1863-1931), the legendary teacher of people who went on to become important figures in mathematics, physics or chemistry. His most noted students included world-renown mathematician János (John von) Neumann, the father of the modern computer or Jenő (Eugene) Wigner, the 1963 Nobel laureate in physics. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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As far as the current business environment in Hungary is concerned, Roland Jakab – who is also chairman of the Hungarian European Business Council (HEBC), incorporating important international companies present in this country – is of the view that “more dialogue would be welcomed between the business community and the government. Obviously, those burdened with special taxes and those who are not, especially if the latter can create growth and do not primarily depend on the Hungarian market, see the situation differently. However, all players on the Hungarian market stress predictability as the most important requirement to do business. A predictable environment over the long term does the most to strengthen confidence and forms the basis to new investments, which could be translated into many new jobs as well.

Human-centered company policy According to Jakab, what can continuously strengthen Ericsson Hungary is that those people working for us feel good here. “Our job is to create such an environment: opportunities, career development perspectives, etc. The possibility in itself that it is them who can invent the future in one way or another is an excellent and inspiring reason for young people to work for us. There are dozens among our young colleagues who have traveled all around the world: working in many places before turning 30 years old. It is inspiring for them to discuss ideas with colleagues, participating in concrete developments or forming a small in-house group to solve a problem. We have several of these stories about careers that are realized here with Ericsson in Hungary. Nowadays, you no longer need to work abroad to have access to cutting-edge technology – you simply join us and you can feel as if you are somewhere in the Silicon Valley.” This humancentered company policy has also been noted by independent observers. It was voted – based on a complex survey – as Hungary’s best employer twice (in 2009 and 2012) and the most intelligent company (a title given out for the first time in November 2014). Also, the firm has the most innovative company title, that of the most familyfriendly and health-friendly workplace.

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COMMITMENT, INNOVATION AND COURAGE SWEDISH CHAMBER CELEBRATES TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (SCCH) was established in Budapest on October 27, 1995. The initiative was taken by a number of Swedish companies in Hungary, jointly with the Swedish Trade Council and the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, in response to the expanding economic and commercial relations between Sweden and Hungary. “Since then, the Chamber has become a wellknown, respected and very active non-profit, non-political organization, a leading voice of the Swedish businesses in Hungary. Since its establishment, the membership of our Chamber has grown rapidly and currently, we have 50 ordinary, 26 associated and 13 honorary members. Our member companies employ close to 12,000 people directly and have invested more than EUR one billion in Hungary,” SCCH President, János Takács explains to Diplomacy & Trade.

Supporting cooperation The general purpose of the Chamber is to promote – and contribute to – the development of trade and business relations and business

related initiatives and activities between Hungary and Sweden, and support the business interests of its members. Its tasks include supporting mutual co-operation and friendship between Hungary and Sweden, encouraging trade investments and economic developments and helping its members monitor, understand and influence events within the Hungarian business community. “We are proud of our co-operation with the Embassy of Sweden on many of these issues,” Takács says. He adds that the Chamber is a forum for the establishment and development of professional and social contacts between its members, both companies and individuals, including programs and business events with outstanding guest speakers. For the years of 2014 and 2015, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary also fills the role of Chairmanship of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary. Thus, as of January 1, 2014, János Takács, became the Chairman of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary, too.

Prominent speakers The Chamber has recently introduced a new innovative business event, the SCCH CEO Forum, created especially for the occasion of the Chamber’s 20th anniversary. It includes a presentation by the guest speaker and a roundtable discussion with 3 to 5 member

company leaders on a certain interesting topic, such as innovation or healthcare, followed by a traditional business luncheon. The first such occasion took place on February 19 this year with a speech by the 2014 Gran Prize Winner and a discussion on the IFS Sabbatical Year. Last year, speakers at SCCH events included such prominent figures as the then Hungarian EU Commissioner László Andor or the Chairman of GKI Economic Research Co. András Vértes. 2015 will feature major events like the Gran Gala on May 21, SCCH CEO Forum events and business

luncheon in June, September and November or the 20th Lucia Day Gala in December. The two-day wine tour in June and the traditional golf tournament in October promise to be popular events, too. As a conclusion, János Takács notes that the basic goals of the SCCH have remain unchanged for the past two decades. “Nevertheless, our scope of activity has to reflect the current economic climate and modified needs of our members, in a way that inspires commitment, innovation and courage.”

PROVIDING A SMART FORUM BUSINESS SWEDEN HUNGARY PROMOTES BUSINESS AND THE ENVIRONMENT The Swedish Trade and Invest Council ‘Business Sweden’ was founded on January 1, 2013 by a merger of the ‘Swedish Trade Council’ and ‘Invest Sweden’. With offices in 50 countries, Business Sweden facilitates and promotes the growth of Swedish companies abroad and investment opportunities for foreign companies in Sweden. Business Sweden's aim is to strengthen and promote Sweden as an attractive, innovative and competitive business partner. The organization supports Swedish companies in reaching export markets and creates business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to grow internationally. It also attracts business to Sweden.

provide a platform for exchanging ideas and experiences in order to develop a more sustainable and innovative environment. The latest event took place in the middle of February 2015 under the title ‘Sustainable & Future Working Environment Seminar’.

In order to contribute to creating a sustainable urban environment, Business Sweden Hungary – in cooperation with the Municipality of Budapest – has been revitalizing one area of Budapest every year since 2011 in an environmentally conscious way. In 2011, the first eco-playground in Budapest was built on Margaret Island. The following year, the park on the Buda side of Lánchíd (Chain Bridge) was revitalized in an environmentally conscious way. In 2013, a bicycle service station, info center and meeting point was established in Vérmező Park, promoting a sustainable urban lifestyle and supporting the bicycle culture of the city. Last year, Angyal István Park, located in the 9th district was bio-diversified and modernized with view to the challenges facing a modern city. The park became greener and more modern, and the free Wi-Fi coverage has turned it into a genuine 21st century community space.

Recommended business areas In Hungary, Business Sweden offers business opportunities for Swedish companies in several fields where it sees particularly good positions. Currently, one such area is the electronics industry where firms may benefit not only from an educated workforce but also from good cooperation between academic research and industrial production. In the automotive industry, good location for logistics or production hubs is also an attractive feature. R&D centers use the creative and highly skilled workforce, which is also important in information technology, one of the fastest growing sectors in Hungary.

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Business Sweden also recommends the field of renewable energy and environmental engineering as Hungary is rich in natural resources that can be used to produce biofuel, biomass, biogas, and geothermic, wind and solar power.

Smart Forum The Budapest office was established in 1971 as that of the Swedish Trade Council. It has recently been co-organizing events under the

name ‘Swedish-Hungarian Smart Forum’, which came to life from the merge of the Swedish Sustainability Program and the Swedish-Hungarian Innovation Forum. Its aim is to promote an innovative and environmentally conscious lifestyle and thinking in Hungary. It has organized conferences every year since 2012, on topical themes related to innovation and sustainability. The overall goal is to M A R C H

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Environmentally conscious projects

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A HOUSE FOR SCANDINAVIA in BUDAPEST

MAKING NORDIC CULTURE KNOWN AND APPRECIATED IN HUNGARY between Hungary and the Nordic countries by acting as an initiator, organizer and connecting link. I’m proud to say that we are often asked for help when it comes to organizing anything Nordic-related. We contribute to many different festivals in Budapest, in the fields of film, dance, theater, literature and children’s activities. The former Swedish ambassador Karin Olofsdotter (who left Budapest last summer) prized our promoting activities by saying that we are ‘the 4th Scandinavian Embassy’. We were present at the annual Midsummer’s night’s Cultural Picnic at the Skanzen (north of Budapest), held lecture series about Iceland and we closed the year with a terrific concert and Scandinavian Santa competition in December. Last year, we organized a Scandinavian day in the cultural center ‘Erőművház’ in the downtown area, language clubs, children’s programs, while organizing conferences, film screenings, clubs, workshops, festivals, Nordic cooking demonstrations and weekend programs is also on our agenda,” she adds. Although, the Scandinavian House has a residence in downtown Budapest, most of their programs are not in-house projects. “We always find a nice place that best suits our activities. We are especially fond of book stores, considering that we organize a great number of book presentations and lectures. Books are important for us: whenever a book comes out that has something to do with Nordic countries, we hunt it down. We also sell books, and our goal is to build up a great library that would be able to provide comprehensive information on the countries we admire so much,” Veronika Varga concludes.

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BÁNLAKI, NOÉMI NAGY

The Scandinavian House Foundation was established in autumn 2003 to promote the development of cultural relations between Hungary and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), to help in distributing the know-how, knowledge and technology originating from the Scandinavian countries, and to lend a helping hand in integrating Scandinavian companies, their colleagues and relatives in Hungary. It is a non-profit organization and is maintained by the donations of companies and private persons. Coworkers of the foundation are all volunteers. "The idea was to create a meeting place for the Scandinavian people who live in Budapest, and for Hungarian fans of Scandinavian language and culture," founder Veronika Varga explains to Diplomacy & Trade. As a private initiative of a small but enthusiastic group of Hungarians who attended classes at the Scandinavian Department of the Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, and their Scandinavian friends, the foundation began its activities in the autumn of 2006. Since then, the Scandinavian House has been serving as a central hub for Nordic language education for the general public. “For 2015, we announced Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic courses, and every beginner class has been filled,” Varga says, adding that Swedish has always been the most popular among the courses on offer. “In addition to teaching language, which is our core project, we organize cultural activities and promote the development of cultural relations

▶ S CAN DI N AV I AN G UE ST: Renowned Danish journalist Per Nyholm holds a lecture at the Tat Galéria, Conemporary Art Gallery w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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HUNGARIAN

Nobel Prize Winners

Alfred Nobel

THE EVERLASTING PRIZE of a LIFE

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In the will he drafted in 1895, Alfred Nobel instructed that most of his fortune be set aside as a fund for the awarding of five annual prizes “to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” These prizes established by his will are the Nobel Prize for Physics, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Nobel Prize for Peace. The first distribution of the prizes took place on December 10, 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel’s death. An additional award, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was first awarded in 1969. Nobel’s name has become so well known that no other Swede, not even today’s athletes and rockstars can rival his fame – states Tore Frängsmyr in the booklet compiled on his life. The inventor of dynamite was ‘a lonely millionaire’ with a deep melancholy. He never had a family and lived alone throughout his life. ‘The idea for giving away his fortune came by no means out of the blue’, Nobel had long pondered the issue and had rewritten his will several times to find the best expression of his philanthropy.. At the time, it was not common to donate such large sums of money to scientific and philanthropic causes – Nobel’s decision presented many problems for the executors of his will, until finally, the first distribution of the Prizes occurred in 1901. Since inception, many Hungarians have been the recipients of Nobel prizes. M A R C H

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SLOWDOWN in GROWTH

HUNGARY NEEDS THE RULES OF THE MARKET AND THE STATE OF LAW RESTORED

In spite of the fact that economic growth was temporarily swift in 2014 (3.5%), GKI Economic Research Co. predicts that a significant slowdown is likely in 2015. Researchers believe the main reason behind this prediction is that EU transfers are contracting in 2015, and business investments are barely growing. After two good agricultural years, some decline is likely in this sector. Despite the favorable growth and financial

indicators of 2014, the government debt remained unchanged in Hungary, thus, the scope for fiscal policy is tight. However, the growth of consumption is accelerating in 2015 due to the declining burdens of foreign currency (FX) debtors and low inflation resulting from the drop in the price of oil.

THE FORECAST OF GKI FOR 2015

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DESCRIPTION 2012 2013 2014 2015 FORECAST 1. GDP (%) 98.5 101.5 103.5 102.0 2. Industrial production (%) 98.3 101.4 107.6 105.0 3. Investments (%) 95.8 105.2 114.0 100.0 4. Construction services (%) 94.1 109.6 114.2 103.0 5. Retail trade turnover (%) 98.1 101.9 104.1 102.0 6. Exports (current prices in euro, %) 100.0 101.7 103.9 103.0 7. Imports (current prices in euro, %) 100.5 102.0 104.3 101.0 8. Foreign trade balance (EUR billion) 6.8 6.6 6.5 8.0 9. Balance of the current and 4.4 7.8 8** 7.7 capital account (EUR billion) 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

Average exchange rate of euro (in HUF) General government deficit* (HUF billion) Index of average gross earnings Consumer price index Consumer price index at the end of the period (corresponding month of the previous year=100)

15. Rate of unemployment (at the end of the period, %)

289.4 607.5 104.6 105.7 105.0

296.9 929.2 103.4 101.7 100.4

10.7

9.1

308.7 825.7 103.0 99.8 99.3

7.1***

315.0 800.0 102.3 100.5 101.5

* Cash flow basis, without local governments ** GKI estimates *** Including people employed by public workfare schemes, October–December 2014 Sources of actual data: CSO, NBH, NGM

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Growing uncertainty In recent months, uncertainty has intensified in the global economy and in Hungary, as well. The drop in world energy prices and the monetary easing announced by the European Central Bank are favorable for the Hungarian economy. In contrast, the increase in international political risks, including the deepening Ukrainian-Russian crisis, the pickup of terrorist threats and the crisis phenomena in oil-exporting countries has adverse effects. Although, the situation in Greece seems to be manageable, the lack of a lasting solution, together with the difficulties of other southern European countries turns the future perspectives of the EU gloomier. The Fed is expected to raise its reference interest rate in the autumn, which will lift money market and economic growth risks.

Country image not favorable The international assessment of Hungary is very unfavorable due to the government’s nationalizing and anti-market economic policies marred by suspected corruption. There are no economic benefits of the “eastern opening” and, in addition, it is increasing Hungary’s political isolation. The future of energy supply developments with the participation of Russia is increasingly uncertain. Domestic energy demand does not justify the currently planned magnitude of these projects. Their financial source is quite obscure, and they are in conflict with the principles of the energy policy of the EU and

most probably with its legal rules as well. The government is trying to expand the sources of economic growth through reaching a partial compromise with the banks. However, if these gestures are not combined with other measures aiming to restore the rules of the market and the state of law, the effects will be limited. The Funding for Growth Scheme Plus (FGS+) of the National Bank is trying to boost banks’ willingness to lend by compensating part of their losses by the central bank, instead of increasing the interest margin in accordance with the risks of the credit. Since some of the problems are caused by the lack of good projects, no change can be expected from this step.

Upgrading possible The general government deficit fell to 2.2% of GDP in 2014. However, structural deficit, which is monitored closely by the EU, increased significantly. At the end of February the forint was strong compared to its significant depreciation at the beginning of 2015 or to its level at the end of 2014, and even to the exchange rate of HUF 309 applied at the conversion of euro loans. Deflation also justifies a lower exchange rate. The Monetary Council projects a drop in the base rate, which is currently 2.1%. In parallel, some weakening of the forint is expected. Credit rating agencies are likely to improve Hungary’s ranking in the second half of 2015.

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diplomacy & life diplomacy & life.

WITTY

LE A K S

IN OUR SERIES, DIPLOMATS GIVE THEIR PERSONAL ACCOUNT

OF THE EXPERIENCES OF THEIR “EXCURSIONS”

to Hungarian culture, art, gastronomy & landscape.

COLORS, SMELLS, FLAVORS

THE IMPORTANCE OF DETAILS WHILE OBSERVING HUNGARY BY KSENIJA ŠKRILEC, AMBASSADOR OF SLOVENIA

from a village environment, I had rather mixed feelings about Budapest. The city defined by those giant, tall buildings with beautiful ornaments just strengthened my painful homesickness for a long time. It is burnt in my memory forever how I could not fall asleep from the anxiety of being surrounded by the 4-meter walls of a bourgeois flat. Since then, I do actually prefer old buildings and flats to new ones. I like to be in environments with an air of old times about them. Today, I am always delighted to gaze at Art Nouveau buildings, which have become my favorites and I have to realize that this style has, in fact, come to define my taste as it is. Some of the hidden treasures of the Ecseri flea market, where I happily go whenever I can, still remind me of the ambiance and characters of Móricz, Mikszáth, Kosztolányi, Karinthy, Ottlik short stories and novels, just like they did when I was a student. Similarly, walking around the Balaton area, I get flashbacks of my readings of Thorn Castle and Winter Grove by István Fekete with a taste of a childhood lost in the mist.

Upon every new encounter, the experience of the senses determines one’s first impression of a place, person or situation. Just remember the first time you met a person who later in life became significant to you – in the memory, you will find the lights, the objects and all other characteristics of the scene. When I visit a new place, a different country, I consciously pay close attention to detail. The way we see each other is, in fact, rather simplified and schematic. A good diplomat will, however, always strive to look beyond these stereotypes. Nonetheless, we are also well-aware that the stereotypes tell us a lot about their creators and are, therefore, useful in certain ways.

Stereotypes and achievements

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During my trips in Hungary, I always observe people first, since our relation to a country is essentially the combined effect that the relationship we form with its people and the culture and environment they created have on us. Hungary is not unknown to me, I spent my university years here. I realize that comparing my perception of Hungary at the time to my perception of Hungary now says a lot about me, too. In the mid ‘80s, as a youngster coming M A R C H

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ZHANG, ANDRÁS HAVAS, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

Observing Hungarians

photos by JUDY

in Slovenia and on a different occasion, flew over the North Pole to take pictures and measure the level of carbon in the air – also taking into consideration the common challenges of mankind at large – and aerobatics champion pilot Péter Besenyei, who amazes me most when he flies under the Chain Bridge or through the tunnel under the Buda Castle. Both pilots bowed before the achievement of the other and declared expressly that they would never venture to do what the other one had done.

To date, I simply cannot leave the flea market without one or two smaller items of booty. These are typically of two genres with which I have formed a special relationship over the years: old porcelain – luckily this always requires new stock – and textiles. Have you noticed that we drink coffee very differently from an old Herendi or Zsolnay porcelain cup? I discovered a lady who sells linens and with whom I can go on for ages discussing the quality of embroidery on old table cloths and serviettes. I enjoy the situation when at first, they wouldn't imagine that I can detect and tell the difference between small and highstitch embroidery or between refined and sloppy work and then later, they have to acknowledge my ‘expertise’ and we end up having a splendid and long exchange of thoughts on the matter. It is in these situations that the reflex of the returning customer develops. And it is also in these situations that my young adult children decide for the umpteenth time never to accompany me again on shopping tours promised to be short in advance. My grocery shopping trips to the Fény street market are conducted in a similar fashion. No, it is not only for the Slovenian Karst ham at the ham shop »Sonkás« that I go there. I like buying home made products from the producers themselves, who, over time, will let me in on some everyday secrets about their products and the circumstances of the production itself. It is always good to know what, why and how and this is especially true for food. The joy of seller and buyer is shared when it turns out that the buyer does not judge the quality of the egg by its size. Pullet eggs are splendid things!

ZHANG

Shopping tours

photo by JUDY

Over and over and again, I am amused by the Hungarian view of Slovenians and Slovenia: a country of clean, well-organized, kind people, where even the grass grows in a more orderly fashion than in Hungary. I cannot but conclude that these things must be important to Hungarians. Slovenes, on the other hand, deem Hungarians to be an intemperate and bold people. Perhaps, I should look around to see if there is a deeper analysis of these national stereotypes. It is true that in Slovenia, we value the environment that surrounds us. Environmentally conscious people are aware that the stronger the harmony between man and nature, the better the quality of life shall be. This is not only valid for areas with beautifully cultivated lands, but also for the compulsory weekend program of Slovenians: touring in nature. Hiking, picking dandelion leaves in the spring for a weekend salad, long bicycle trips, skiing and excursions in the forest, which often include picking mushrooms. Skiing, swimming and team games are sports of the masses in my country. No wonder Slovenian sportsmen and women are world class. The winter reminds me especially of Tina Maze and Peter Prevc. As far as intemperateness, boldness and ambition is concerned, I see many similarities between Hungarians and Slovenes. Slovenian hikers keep trying to conquer the highest peaks the globe has to offer, and so do Hungarians, like Dávid Klein, for example. Compared to the size of the countries, the number of outstanding achievements is truly high in sports as well as in other walks of life. The longing for extreme achievements is obvious, too. Hungary's Nándor Fa sailed around the world in a sailboat and extreme tourist champion István Rudolf walked 1,000 miles in one go. And not so long ago, two fantastic gentlemen met at our Embassy here in Budapest: Matevž Lenarčič, who flew around the world in his ultralight one man aircraft patented

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Wine tasting and eating always serve as great opportunities for character analysis. It is astonishing how Hungarian wine culture and gastronomy have changed since my years at university! They are much more thrilling, refined and varied than the monopolies of the Egri Bikavér, Tokaji Aszú, goulash soup and Pick salami that were attributed to Hungary by Slovenes back in the day. An interesting cultural history phenomenon: the latter still goes by the name of ‘ogrska salama’(Hungarian salami) in Slovenian stores.

great plans of a people into one spot and convey them to the world through symbols. If the guide forgets to mention, I always ask them to explain to my guests why it is only Árpád's statue among the 16 forward looking statues of the cupola hall that looks to the right. Among the several amusing theories, one always makes me wonder about the role of women in contemporary Hungarian society. As a lady ambassador, I would like to highlight the distinctly polite manners of Hungarian men towards women, and also how great it is that the new Hungarian ambassador to Slovenia was appointed from among the most talented, prepared and professional ladies in Hungary. Writing this piece, I was interrupted by the phone call of a lady friend from Slovenia. She called to discuss the details of her next visit to Budapest. She asked me why I’d never taken

Lady ambassadors When my Slovenian guests, friends or official representatives wish to get to know Hungary and Hungarians in an hour, I take them to Parliament. It is perhaps one of the few places that is able to compress time, history, cultural history, applied arts, culture, the efforts and

her to Visegrád before. Really, why haven't I? Perhaps for the same reason this writing turned out to be Budapest focused. Yet, there would be so many exciting stories to tell about other cities and regions in Hungary and about the people that live there and are perhaps even kinder and more hospitable than their counterparts in the capital. I believe it is time for me to get up and discover all this again!

SEE WHO ELSE HAS HER FAVORITE THINGS

Kuwait National Day K U WA I TI A M B A S S A D OR Hamad Mohammad Burhamah hosted a reception at the Hotel InterContinental Budapest to celebrate the Anniversary of Independence and National Day of his country.

Goat Fest at China Mart DRUMS , L IO NS AND DRAGO NS kicked off the Lunar New Year celebration 'Goat Fest' at the China Mart in Budapest this February. Far-eastern and Hungarian artists, athletes, schools and civil organizations welcomed the New Year together.

Korean Cultural Center Anniversary AMBASSADOR Geun-Hyeong Yim of the Republic of Korea welcomed guests to the celebration of the 3rd anniversary of the Korean Cultural Center in Budapest. The event included a taekwondo photo exhibition and performance as well as a music-dance show.

Canadian Photo Exhibition C A N A D I A N A MB A S S ADOR Lisa Helfand opened an exhibition at the Embassy in Budapest to celebrate her country's Council Chairmanship of the Arctic Council (2013-15) as well as the 50th anniversary of the Canadian flag.

Defense of the Motherland ZHANG, ANDRÁS HAVAS, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

R U S S I A N A MB A S S A D OR Vladimir Sergeev invited guests to his Embassy to commemorate the holiday that honors those in the armed forces. It was on February 23, 1918 that as many as ten thousand people signed up for the army to defend the homeland against German invasion.

Indian Business Delegation INDIAN AMBASSAD O R Malay Mishra gave an introductory speech at the business meeting attended by the 23-member Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council visiting from India, and their prospective Hungarian business partners.

photos by JUDY

New Ambassadors to Hungary H U N G A R I A N P R ES I D EN T János Áder received the credentials of (pictured clockwise from the left) Anne Louise Jobson of Jamaica, Mohammed Bin Abdulhadi Almatrafi of Saudi Arabia, Ralph Scheide of Austria and Nasredinov Ismatullo Hikmatulloevich of Tajikistan.

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WHY DID PUTIN VISIT HUNGARY? INTERNATIONAL VIEWS ON THE ORBÁN-PUTIN RELATIONSHIP

Even days and weeks after the visit to Hungary on February 17 by Russian President, analysts are still puzzled as to what the real purpose of the visit was. What comes up in most analyses is that the official explanation, that is, the renewal of Russian gas shipments to Hungary, does not justify such a high-level visit – that could have been dealt with at ministerial level, the highest.

‘working visit’ included the Russian President laying a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier on Heroes Square and one on a controversial monument (of Soviet-Russian soldiers taking part in the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising) before meeting Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Hungarian President János Áder.

Important for Putin

Hungarian and Russian ministers signed five agreements on cooperation in various fields in the presence of Putin and Orbán in Hungarian Parliament. Following this ceremony, Vladimir Putin thanked PM Orbán for inviting him. He said Hungary was significant partner for Russia and talked about the importance of energy cooperation between the two countries. Viktor Orbán insisted that his country needs Russia, the Russian market and Russian energy carriers. He called for settling relations between the European Union and Hungary and said the EU sanctions on Russia and the counter sanctions hit Hungary also. Given the unfavorable reception of the Putin visit, the Hungarian Prime Minister made three subsequent trips (to Ukraine, Serbia and Poland) to make amends. Observers say these went either unnoticed or were unsuccessful – so much that the latest rumors suggest major changes in Hungarian foreign policy.

‘Goulash Putinism’ Business News Europe describes the Hungarian situation as ‘Goulash Putinism’ and

DANILO TÜRK RECEIVES HONORARY DOCTORATE IN BUDAPEST Slovenia's former President Danilo Türk (pictured on the right) has received an honorary doctorate from the Budapest Corvinus University. The title was bestowed upon him by the Senate of the University and conferred by Rector Zsolt Rostoványi this February. Dr. Danilo Türk received the honorary Doctorate of Social Sciences for his humanities work in the field of international law and national minorities, activities for the promotion of human rights and efforts for the protection of international peace and security. He was particularly credited for his work during the Slovenian non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council from 1998 to 1999 and his service as Assistant UN Secretary General for Political Affairs

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between 2000 and 2005. Corvinus University in Budapest is a leading Hungarian university in the field of economics and social sciences. Among the recipients of this honorary doctorate are UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former

recalls that US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland “roasted Hungary in a speech [last] October for contesting liberal democratic ideas, inflaming nationalist sentiment and crushing freedom of speech. Replace the word ‘Hungary’ for ‘Russia’ and she could have used the same speech for having a go at Putin again.” The actual events of the Putin visit did not contradict the aforementioned views. The

POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS BUDAPEST Reinforcing the unity of the Visegrád Group, the Ukrainian conflict, as well as bilateral political, social and economic relations were the focus of Minister Grzegorz Schetyna’s visit to Budapest this February. The chief of Polish diplomacy met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó and the President of the Hungarian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Zsolt Németh. As Grzegorz Schetyna

(pictured on the left) put it, the friendship between Hungary and Poland is the foundation of Central European cooperation. He said that although there might be some conflicts in their foreign policies, the two countries always find common ground. The Polish Minister emphasized the importance of the economic relations between the two countries, noting that they are looking for new areas of cooperation. He also mentioned that an agreement was reached on accommodating each other’s

President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. In 2010, Danilo Türk received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Szeged (SE Hungary), as well. M A R C H

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diplomats in those places where the other country has no diplomatic mission. Szijjártó said Poland is a strategic partner for Hungary. “Hungary wants the cooperation within the Visegrád Group to be as close and full as possible,” he added. The ministers also discussed the Ukraine peace talks in Minsk. “We are happy that fighting has been replaced by political talks again,” the Polish Minister stressed, adding that “the negotiations will only prove successful once the agreement is implemented.” He pointed out that Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty as well as its borders recognized by the international community “cannot be questioned.” According to Szijjártó, “we fully agree that any agreement on the situation in Ukraine has to respect this country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

SZILÁRD KOSZTICSÁK/MTI, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

Newsweek quotes Peter Pomerantsev, the author of ‘Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible’, a study of the world of Kremlin propaganda, by saying that the “overall the plan is to have a way to subvert European unity, and ultimately Euro-Atlantic unity.”

photos by

Most observers are inclined to note, however, that this visit was actually more important for Putin than for Orbán. As the Polish paper Rzeczpospolita put it, while Vladimir Putin is considered as “almost persona non grata,” he is a “ceremonially welcome guest” in Budapest. Although, it was called a working visit by the Hungarian government but widely seen by analysts as a demonstration that - despite Russian aggression in Ukraine - he has found a NATO and EU member that is still willing to receive him. In fact, the Russian President was not received in any EU country since June 2014. According to the paper, the Hungarian government wishes to convince European leaders that its Russia policy stems from ‘economic pragmatism’ and that it is not Moscow’s Trojan horse in the European Union. It notes that the Hungarian PM does not criticize openly the EU sanctions against Russia but always stresses that they hurt Hungary.

Mutual interests?

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TERROR without BORDERS EXPERTS AND DIPLOMATS SEEKING REASONS AND ANSWERS

photos by DÁVID

HARANGOZÓ

The Budapest-based Jewish student organization Kidma Hungary organized a conference ‘Terror without borders’ (Terror határok nélkül) at the Bálint Jewish Community center in February. The Paris gunmen and the 22-year-old man responsible for the recent killings in the Danish capital, Copenhagen were born into Muslim immigrant families in the respective countries they sought to terrorize. While most European governments have sought to arrest or expel residents who have returned home after waging jihad in the Middle-East, it seems this does not solve major challenges. The roots, the social trends and dangers of terrorism gave a wide spectrum for the speakers of the conference to unfold: whose responsibility these tragic events were, how Europeans see Islam, what is happening in this respect in and outside Europe, etc. The program began with the keynote lecture of Prof. László Csicsmann from Budapest’s Corvinus University, followed by the inspiring and vibrant panel of French Ambassador Roland Galharague and Israeli Ambassador Ilan Mor. The two diplomats presented and debated the same issue from a slightly different geopolitical aspect. Ambassador Galharague (pictured on the right)pointed out that the prime targets of Islamic extremists in his country are those exercising the freedom expression, representatives of republican law and order as well as the Jewish community. He believes the adequate answer to the terrorist attacks is the demonstration of unity, as it happened at the demonstrations in Paris and all over France as well as at commemorations in other locales, including Budapest.

He was of the view that it must be properly established “what, why, whom we are fighting” and terrorism must be fought both at home and abroad. The French are present with anti-terrorist military units in Iraq and Syria as well as in Mali, Libya and central Africa. The European Union uses technical and police measures, including discussion with the most important internet companies so that the Internet is not used as a vehicle for extremist propaganda. Also, more work is needed in schools, prisons and other social environments in order to prevent young people from terrorist influence. The Israeli Ambassador (pictured on the left)warned that Europe is not in a protected situation as various terrorist organizations like Al-Qaida, the Hamas and other have appeared on the continent. “Israel is a democracy that has to fight terrorism on a daily basis but still a democracy,” he pointed out, adding that there is a huge gap in perception between Israel and Europe as to how to deal with terrorism: “fading historical memory and facts of today separate Israel and Europe.” He quoted UN charter article 51, which says that each country has the right to defend itself. Israel is forced to defend itself even if a democracy should sometimes use undemocratic means to defend itself. Ambassador Mor heavily stressed – and his French colleague agreed – that the most important task is education, adding that the flow of money to terrorists should be stopped and countries that give safe haven for terrorists should be punished. “We need a united front – as our life is at stake,” he said.

U.S. DIPLOMAT ANDRÉ GOODFRIEND LEAVES BUDAPEST

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY IN BUDAPEST

Hungary is a “beautiful country with wonderfully diverse cultural traditions and warm people. Our shared values and history make much familiar… I very much do and regularly comment on the amazing resilience, creativity and societal concern of the Hungarian people… I often note that Hungarian citizens should be proud & confident of their ability to shape their society & future.” These Twitter notes by André Goodfriend (pictured on the right with former Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi) very much show his interest in the country (and its people) where he served as chargé d’affaires of the American Embassy for about one and a half years until early 2015. He left Hungary this February. He also noted that life in Hungary was more “engaging that I could ever have imagined,” a place where it was possible to have “fascinating discussions about homelessness, friendship and communal support

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Philip Hammond paid a two-day visit to the Hungarian capital at the end of February. He was received by the Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The topics of discussion included the situation in the Ukraine (with both parties urging respect for the Minsk agreement, the future of the European Union, the challenges the EU is facing, British-Hungarian bilateral relations, energy security (the importance of keeping the specification of energy resources used under national competence), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the fight

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with ‘living books’… And I was always impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of Budapest poetry slams - even if I don't understand the verses.” Music was also an important part of his experience in Hungary. He even wrote about his love for singing in his WittyLeaks piece for Diplomacy & Trade last year. He liked to roam the streets of Budapest. “Walking through the city, I enjoy the opportunities to chat and hear what people think… On one walk, I enjoyed the variety of Budapest from Teleki tér to the Gozsdu market to a country music festival in the 11th district,” he noted and the ‘chat and hear what people think” was not an exaggeration as he was able to communicate in the notoriously difficult language of the Hungarians. Thus, he was also a member of the club of Hungarian-speaking ambassadors. As the top US diplomat in Hungary, he communicated the American government’s ban on Hungarian government officials from entering the United States for their involvement in corruption. This made him a sort of celebrity in this country but – due to the political overtone of this diplomatic affair – he could no longer walk the streets of Budapest alone…

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against ISIL and migration issues. Philip Hammond was of the opinion Russia asserts its own interests with increasing force. The EU sanctions are efficient, but Russia is trying to divide the European countries, he said. He emphasized that the European

countries will keep up the sanctions until the parties do not comply with their obligations set out in the Minsk agreement. Péter Szijjártó claimed that Hungary will continue to adhere to all joint European decisions in this matter as it has always done.

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china china.

HAPPY YEAR OF THE GOAT! CHINESE AMBASSADOR ATTENDS LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

representatives, school officials, teachers and pupils – some 200 people altogether. After expressing his best wishes to school teachers and students for the New Year, the Ambassador highly praised the role of the Chinese Bilingual Primary School in deepening educational cooperation between the two countries. Xiao Qian said that it is an excellent opportunity for the development of this school that ChineseHungarian cooperation is in its best phase ever. He wished the school continuous development and expressed the hope that it will continue to play a major role in Chinese language education in Hungary and in the promotion of ChineseHungarian friendship.

PROVIDING a TASTE of CHINA THE ELTE CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE IN BUDAPEST

have visited our institution: in 2008 Jia Qinglin (Chairman and Party secretary of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference), in 2011 Wen Jiabao (former Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China), and in the same year of Wen Jiabao’s visit, we had the opportunity to organize the Conference of European Confucius Institutes, where Xu Jialu (former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress) was present, as well. At Wen Jiabao’s invitation, 90 Hungarian students and 10 teachers had the opportunity to spend 2 weeks in China in the summer of 2012. Returning the favor, Viktor Orbán invited 100 Chinese secondary school students to Hungary for the summer of 2013. Due to the European Union Financial Fund’s support handed out by the Hungarian Interior Affairs Ministry, 200 Chinese immigrants living in Hungary have the opportunity to study Hungarian language and prepare for the language exam in our institute. Dr. Barna Mezey, the Rector of ELTE, and Xu Lin, the Director of Hanban, signed an agreement forming the ELTE Confucius Institute Regional Chinese Teacher Training Center on November 13, 2013. Our institute now offers local Chinese teacher training for 16 East and Central European countries. The Center, which is the very first Chinese teacher training institution in the world outside the borders of China, enjoys the support of ELTE, the Hungarian government and most importantly, Hanban.

BY DR. IMRE HAMAR AND DR. RUDOLF SÁRDI

ELTE Confucius Institute’s development has been continuous and unbroken. Currently, we offer Chinese courses and popularize Chinese culture in ten cities and 34 institutions all over Hungary with the help of 43 Chinese native speaking teachers. Today, the institute has more than 3,000 students a year, we have started courses in primary and secondary schools and we have created the opportunity for students to take Chinese language as a school leaving exam. The institute also helps improve language learning by editing its own HungarianChinese bilingual textbook. Chinese language courses, free cultural programs, talk series and lectures make our agenda colorful. Every year, we organize more than 50 cultural programs, where participants can get to know Chinese

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▶ C O FU C I U S I NS TI T U T E C E RE M O NI E S : The opening of

the CEE regional teacher training center in 2014 in the presence of Ambassador Xiao Qian (in the center), Deputy Minister for Foreign Affiars and Trade László Szabó (third on the left) and Dean Tamás Dezső (third on the left) of the ELTE University Faculty of Arts (above) ---- Welcoming visiting Chinese PM Wen Jiabao in 2011 (to the right)

traditional and modern culture and can have a taste of what living is like in such a beautiful, mysterious country. It is a great honor to ELTE Confucius Institute that several reputed Chinese government officials M A R C H

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OF EMBASSY OF PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, COURTESY OF ELTE

According to the contract signed by Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and Hanban (Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language), ELTE and the Beijing Foreign Studies University established the first Confucius Institute in Hungary on December 6, 2006. The institute, that has already won the outstanding Confucius Institute ranking four times (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013), is directed by Dr. Imre Hamar.

cultural cooperation is continuously deepening and bilateral relations are at a historical high. As for the New Year, he said the two countries' relationship is facing new development opportunities, the outlook is very promising. The Ambassador expressed his hope that the ‘Happy Spring Festival’ performance by the Shanghai Arts and Cultural Society would promote mutual understanding and friendship. New Year in the school Ambassador Xiao Qian also attended the Lunar New Year celebrations of the HungarianChinese Bilingual Primary School in the Hungarian capital on February 18, along with local council, parliamentary and government

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On February 13, the Chinese Embassy organized a Lunar New Year's feast for 70 Chinese teachers and volunteers working at the Confucius Institutes of the Budapest (ELTE), Szeged and Miskolc; the National University of Public Service; the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual Primary School, the School of Eastern Languages and other institutions. In his speech to the teachers and the Hungarian leaders of the these institutions, Ambassador Xiao Qian expressed his friendly good wishes to the Chinese teachers and thanked them for their contribution to the promotion of the Chinese language and culture as well as for supporting educational cooperation

between the two countries. The Ambassador explained that in the past year, Sino-Hungarian relations underwent intensive development, a number of new achievements were realized in the political, commercial and cultural areas. In terms of the New Year, he was of the view that the development of bilateral relations has even more options in store. Xiao Qian said he hoped that the Chinese teachers will continue to work in the interest of promoting the friendly cooperation between China and Hungary. Happy Spring Festival On February 16, the 28th day of the 12th month of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, the large-scale lecture and reception ‘Happy Spring Festival’ 2015 was held in the decorated Theater Hall of the Danube Palace in Budapest. The event was attended by some 300 people: Hungarian and Chinese state and cultural officials, representatives of Chinese companies present in Hungary, Chinese teachers and press people. Ambassador Xiao Qian wished a Happy New Year to all those present and explained that there was a special historical relationship between the Chinese and Hungarian peoples who are also bound by deep friendship. He added that

The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Xiao Qian had a busy schedule this February, especially due to the start of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Goat.

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MY LIFE in CHINA

PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF A ‘FOREIGNER WHO SPEAKS CHINESE’ BY RICHÁRD MOHR

"And then, one day, you find ten years have got behind you" – the lyrics of Pink Floyd seem so true now, after moving back to Hungary and looking back on my ten years in China. Learning Chinese for a quarter of a century, living in China for a decade, made this country a special one to me. I learned to survive the crowd, the weather and the smog in Beijing. I enjoyed the hospitality of the Chinese people and enjoyed being special: the ‘foreigner who speaks Chinese’. People were listening to me; they forgave my cultural misfits and my straightforwardness since they thought that even though I spoke Chinese I still represented ‘the West’. I traveled countless kilometers by plane, high-speed train and car. I saw a lot of places, met a lot of people. And yet, I still know so little about China.

I cheered for the success of China and mourned for the victims of the earthquakes. A certain part of me became Chinese, but still, I never felt as European as during my Chinese residence. However, I could feel that living in Beijing became more and more difficult. I loved that my daughter was living in an international environment, but hated that she had to live in such a polluted one. I loved that we could take her to a crowded shopping mall and have all kinds of fun, but missed a simple Hungarian countryside trip to the woods.

Keep smiling I had many good days and some bad ones, but this country taught me some of its basic principles: keep smiling and take it easy, think about the long run. So, I did take it easy, I got used to traveling on crowded buses and riding a scooter, accepted almost all inconveniences as a natural part of being in China and really did enjoy the numerous good things. Life in China is so different from that in Europe, you really need a different type of mindset to enjoy it. I tried to change certain habits of 1.3 billion people but ended up just trying to adjust myself to them. And, every evening returning home to my wife, I had the certainty of our small European island.

Culture shock on return

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RI C H Á RD M O H R, with his wife, Melinda, in front of the Leshan Giant Buddha statue in Sichuan Province; at an agricultural forum in Suchou (Jiangsu Province); with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao in Budapest (2004); and at the Summer Olympic Games.

photos by COURTESY

PICTURES

Cross-culture skills I worked as a consultant and businessman. Cross-culture skills are the minimum needed to do business in China or to help others doing it. I had to understand what was going on in the minds of my Chinese and foreign clients to help them make ends meet. It was not always easy and certainly not always successful. But I learned a lot in the meantime, not only about China but also about my home country.

A European in China During the decade I was there, I saw the rise and shine of China. I saw the Olympic Games and worked during the World Expo in Shanghai. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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After moving back to Hungary to become the Hungarian Director in the Confucius Institute at the University of Szeged, I was so surprised to go through a new phase: a cultural shock of my own country and people. During my ten years in China, I always felt that I was a stranger, but never expected to feel like a stranger after moving home. However, this phase passed quickly, old friends and new acquaintances helped us to reinstall ourselves in Hungary. But after half a year, we still miss our life in China and talk about it every day. When we moved to China, family and friends in Hungary kept asking me: “So, you are going to live in China forever?” I told them: there is no forever. Ten years after moving back to Hungary, they are still asking me the same question: “So, you are now going to live in Hungary forever?” Yes, you guessed right, my answer is still the same… (The author of the article is the Hungarian Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Szeged in SW Hungary)

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STEADILY DEVELOPING COOPERATION HUNGARY ACTIVE IN EU-CHINA RELATIONS BY THE HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR IN BEIJING, CECILIA SZILAS

Last year, Hungary celebrated the 10th anniversary of its accession to the European Union and at the same time the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with ‘New China’. Now, we have more than a decade of experience working together within the EU-China cooperation framework. As Hungary was among the very first countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China and to build diplomatic relations in 1949, it means the history of modern China and the history of China-Hungary relations are on the same timeline and we will celebrate these anniversaries together forever. The past sixty-six years brought profound changes both to the world and to our countries, but our relations with China were steadily developing. Cultural and people-topeople exchanges were able to overcome artificially raised barriers even when our political relations were not at their strongest. Our economic cooperation has also been developing successfully especially in recent years due to the Hungarian government’s ‘Opening to East’ policy which matches perfectly with China’s ‘Go global’ policy. As economic relations are increasing with the world’s second largest economy in Hungary and Central-Eastern Europe, it brings development that benefits the whole European

Chinese tourists visiting Hungary each year is rising sharply. Most people are amazed when they first arrive in Budapest: their first reaction generally is “we never thought a city could be so beautiful”! And most of them wish to return to discover more of Hungary! In fact, Hungary has become the country to coordinate Chinese tourism in the whole Central-Eastern European region. Last year, a China-CEECs Tourism Coordination Center was set up in Budapest within the Hungarian National Tourism Office. The idea is to create a platform for intergovernmental coordination, while also offering efficient assistance to market players. The people of China and the Chinese culture are welcome in Hungary. The Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual Primary School is a unique educational institution in Europe. Four Confucius Institutes offer education in Chinese language, culture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. In November, 2014 the Central and Eastern European Regional Teacher’s Training Center in Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Budapest opened; it is the first teacher’s training center outside the People’s Republic of China. This environment in Hungary not only helps the people of our countries to better understand each other, it also serves common economic interests. In a country and economy where the Chinese language and culture are widely known, Chinese enterprises succeed more easily and effectively.

▶ AMBASSADOR SZILAS WITH PROFESSOR GAO JIANJIN, President of the Institute of Music Education at the Central

Conservatory of Music, the recipient of the Pro Cultura Hungarica award, at the Hungarian Cultural Institute of Beijing in December 2014.

Union which needs all effort possible for recovery after the financial crisis. Our export to China has increased over tenfold in the last decade and Chinese investment has reached record highs in Hungary. We can also

see that many Chinese investors have chosen our country as their point of entry into Europe. Many of these investments are in high value added high-tech products and technologies. I am very happy to say that the number of

MULTICULTURAL AND QUALITY EDUCATION

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in 5-6 lessons a week here, students participate in 1-2 lessons of Chinese arts per week, and information technology education is also in Chinese. “Every year, we receive native Chinese books from the People's Republic of China through the Embassy in Budapest for all our students in order to provide quality Chinese language education. Our informatics assets and interactive teaching boards assisting modern language teaching come from Chinese donations, too,” she points out. English language is taught from the third grade based on parental needs. During afternoon study sessions, children from second grade can also get acquainted with English language, develop their musical skills (in which the Chinese students

are very talented besides other forms of art) or enhance their strategic and intellectual skills in chess classes. Since 2014, the school has taken part in the British Council ‘Excellence in English language teaching’ program for a higher standard of education. Within the program, students can learn English at different levels during afternoon study sessions. The Director stresses that “both Hungarian and Chinese commemorative celebrations, traditional and national festivals are integral parts of our school life. Our students take part in these events by performing quality programs each year.” She notes that in October 2013, Hubei Province adopted a classroom in the school. “Representatives of the province have M A R C H

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repeatedly visited our institution, and through this cooperation, they donated 12 interactive whiteboards to modernize education. Also, a student exchange program is in progress: 18 students will visit Hubei Province in the spring of 2015.” According to the Director, it hasn’t been resolved that students who acquired Chinese language skills in primary education could continue their studies in tertiary schools. “Therefore, we are planning to expand our institution with secondary grades.” She concludes with an ancient Chinese proverb, the trademark slogan of the school that celebrates its 10th anniversary in the 2014/15 academic year: “A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.”

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photos by COURTESY

The Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual Primary School opened in 2004 in Budapest’s 15th district through an agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Hungary. The institution is maintained by a non-profit limited company (OMSZI). Uniquely in Europe, the curriculum is in Hungarian and Chinese, therefore, the institution enjoys special attention by the Chinese government. “The most important objective of our school is to provide the Chinese communities’ children with a loving atmosphere and a high quality education. In addition, Chinese students can retain their roots by learning their mother tongue and the basics of the thousands-year-old Chinese culture according to Chinese curriculum. Our students can learn the two most difficult languages in the world,” the Director of the school, Zsuzsanna Erdélyi (pictured with Deputy Director Guo Ja Ming) tells Diplomacy & Trade. “Our institution can be characterized as multicultural, quality education and a welcoming environment. We aim to provide marketable knowledge in Hungarian, Chinese as well as in English for our students finishing their secondary education with us,” she adds. The school operates on a bilingual local curriculum. Besides learning Chinese language

OF HUNGARIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF BEIJING, MÁRTON KOVÁCS, ATTILA VÖLGYI

BUDAPEST BILINGUAL SCHOOL CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY

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china.

THE TREASURES of ANCIENT CHINA

BUDAPEST EXHIBITION ON LIFE IN THE CENTERS OF THE ASIAN EMPIRE

How to recognize the art of a millennia-old Asian culture? What imperial centers did China once work from, and what items of this past do we know now? What connections can be drawn from the archaeological findings? How can China’s imperial court culture be characterized in the different eras? The exhibition ‘Treasures of Ancient China’ on display at the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest attempts to answer these questions. The exhibition – open until April 19 – presents Chinese archaeological and applied arts objects in Hungary for the first time in almost thirty-years. The earliest of the exhibited artifacts, selected from three Chinese museums, comes from the Shaanxi History Museum. This province was once one of the central areas of Chinese civilization, thus, it is rich in archaeological relics. Archaeologists excavated the capitals of numerous dynasties here. Significant subject matter comes from the Museum of Nanjing City in southern China as Nanjing was the capital of six Chinese dynasties. The third institution the exhibition has material from is the Chengde Palace Museum, which sent to Budapest stunning pieces of 18th-century court culture as during the time of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Chengde was one of the most important imperial centers in northern China. The first large unit of the exhibition of more than 150 objects is the one that showcases ceramics of Neolithic cultures from among the earliest archaeological material. It also focuses on

the bronze ceremonial objects of the first historical dynasties and rulers. This thematic unit is ended by the terracotta soldiers (one bending on its knees and another standing) protecting the tomb of the founder of the Chinese empire, Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (221–210 Before Our Era). As Hungarian sinologist Györgyi Fajcsák said, original terracotta soldiers had last been on display in Hungary in the National Museum in 1987. The next part of the exhibition revives life from two major Chinese dynasties, the Han and Tang dynasties. Through grave ceramics from the 2nd and 3rd centuries of our time, as well as from 7-9th century graves, one can learn about the world of Chinese dignitaries: officials and court ladies, caravans traveling on the Silk Road, as well as musicians and dancers. The third part offers insight into the material culture of the Tang era, also called the golden age of China, and into the art of Buddhism that arrived to China on the Silk Road. In the 4th and 5th part of the exhibition, one can get to know the court culture of the last two dynasties (14-18th centuries) through the costumes, jewelry and ceremonial objects of Chinese dignitaries. The ceremonial objects of Tibetan Buddhism flourishing in the 18th century appear in separate units here. In the presentation of Chinese court culture, it is the beautiful pieces from the southern Chinese imperial porcelain manufacture that play an important role.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN CHINA

Archaeological excavation began in China around the beginning of the 20th century. Before then, sites had been looted by grave-robbers in search of treasure. Countless graves were ransacked and plundered in this way, and this greatly increased the value of archaeological centers that survived intact. Traditional Chinese archaeology had focused on the study of ritual bronze vessels and inscribed stone slabs (steles), in particular the interpretation of the inscriptions themselves. Chinese historians have written down China’s ancient past without interruption since the 2nd century BC, but traditional legends and authentic reports have often become intertwined. Until the start of the 20th century, there was a steadfast belief that mythical wise men had ruled in the earliest days of Chinese history, and that they had taught humanity everything of practical use. Their descendants had founded the first Chinese dynasties, and thus had begun their rule, which had lasted for millennia.

photos by GELLÉRT

ÁMENT, SLB

THE CRADLE OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION

Historical China, or, as the Chinese call it, ‘the Central Empire, was separated from the Mongolian steppes to the north by the defensive line of the Great Wall. On the East and the South, its shores were washed by the Pacific Ocean, and it was only via the coasts of Southeast Asia that Chinese settlers could reach further afield, for the untraversable mountain ranges and impenetrable tropical jungles surrounding the region placed boundaries on the spread of Chinese civilization. To the west, the enormous peaks of Tibet formed China’s natural border. It was within this region that Chinese civilization was born, which, throughout its history, has operated out of numerous centers of rule. Anyang, Chang’an, Luoyang, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Beijing are just some of the most notable capital cities. Archaeological excavation in these centers is of critical importance if we are to understand China’s historic past and its material culture.

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SHALE GAS:

EuCham is an independent, nongovernmental, privately organized institution representing the interest of national and international companies. EuCham Charts are monthly releases consisting in rankings of countries in Europe based on various socioeconomic criteria. This month, “charted” by EuCham are countries with the highest migration rates in Europe (2014, CIA). Migration rate is the difference between immigrants and emigrants of a country in a given year per 1.000 persons. • Cyprus continues to be the most attractive country for immigrants for the third consecutive year with a rate of 9.89‰ • Following in the ranking are San Marino, Luxembourg, Norway and Spain, with high immigration. • Moldova faces the highest emigration rate with 9.8‰ SOURCE: eucham.eu/charts

ACADEMICIANS RAISE QUESTIONS

NOT A UNIVERSAL REMEDY FOR MEETING ENERGY DEMANDS IN EUROPE

Shale gas is not a panacea to solve energy concerns in Europe. This is what a recently published document of EASAC (European Academies Science Advisory Council) maintains. The stand it took is congruent with what researchers asked by the website of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences believe, all of them warning about the uncertainties that may be caused by unprospected deposits, decrease in oil prices, and environmental concerns. "Scientific or technological reasons do not require that the prospecting and production of shale gas by fracking or hydraulic fracturing be banned," the EASAC document reads. The organization, however, cautions that despite a continuous improvement of production technology, shale gas cannot be considered as a universal remedy for meeting the demand for energy on this continent, neither should it be seen as a cure for the reduction of glass house gas emissions responsible for global warming.

Concerns and responses

EUCHAM CHART FEB 2015 MIGRATION RATES IN EUROPE

1. CYPRUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. SAN MARINO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. LUXEMBOURG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. NORWAY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. SPAIN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9.89 8.31 7.97 7.96 7.24

22. HUNGARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.34 47. MOLDOVA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -9.8 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY DATA 2014 47 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WERE CONSIDERED

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Academician József Pápay, an engineer, says that attempts to diversify energy sources are quite sensible because the reserves of conventional carbon hydrates, crude oil, and natural gas are finite. "According to some estimates (with a reliability of 95%), the largest consumer, the Unites States’ own proven conventional stocks – at the present rate of consumption – may last for eight years in the case of crude oil, and twelve in the case of natural gas." As he said, horizontal drilling, i.e. when after drilling down perpendicularly to a depth of at least one thousand meters, and from the central shaft horizontal veining is used to pump down chemically treated water to frack the layers of shale (not a conventional storage layer of rock), is a well proven and safe technology. If requirements are strictly complied with, there is no need to worry about polluting the environment. Basically that point is the same as the one made by biologist academician Gábor Vida. However, he warns that it is not always possible to know what chemicals are used in the water to drain the gas. "One of those may be polyacrylamide. On it is own, that substance is really not hazardous. But if it decomposes, then what

Research Center for Economic and Regional Studies stressed. As he put it, in an environment that has different geological features, different social and economic conditions and environmental regulations from what you have across the Atlantic, the particular (foreign) companies on site will determine if they launch prospecting, if the prerequisites in the respective countries are present, at all. Moreover, falling oil prices have an influence on the price of conventional natural gas. Pursuant to the long-term supply agreements with bundled price fixing oil products, falling oil prices sneak into the pricing of import gases, causing them to decrease, too. All those processes present another question mark with respect to the viability of such an investment. "And in our region, prices are a decisive factor with respect to safe supply arrangements," Csaba Weiner added. Gábor Vida thinks that even in the United States, a lot of the sites produce shale gas by making a loss. A study recently published in Nature calls the opening of new sites uneconomical. The academician believes that with respect to shale gas, Hungary is expected to answer the very difficult questions of (1) what supply and demand will be like and (2) if the country exceeds or not its quota on carbon dioxide emission within the EU, “if we are going to use shale gas at a higher rate than before considering the energy resources available to us.”

you get is acrylamide, a known neurotoxin, i.e. a poison.” Another environmental cause for concern is the amount of methane dissipated during exploitation. In regions of the USA where intensive fracking is practiced, the amount of methane in the air has risen, with the obvious explanation that it is due to exploitation. This is why EASAC emphasizes in the document that the only case when mining shale gas is likely to decrease global warming caused by glass house gases is (as stipulated by a Europe-wide norm) when methane dissipation at every stage of fracking may be prevented, from the very start of prospecting drills through production up to the closure of the wells.

Euphoria on the wane In addition to environmental aspects, experts have a number of questions about economic feasibility, too. "In the United States, what you have is hundreds of thousands of wells in many tens of thousands of square kilometers of usually very sparsely populated areas. In a densely populated Europe, however, we do not even know the exact volume of prospective shale gas finds available," József Pápay stressed. As he added, in Poland, a country said to be a leader in shale gas prospecting, only one of 50 drills has proven to make economic sense. Europe is lagging behind North America by at least 20-25 years. "The initial euphoria with respect to shale gas in Poland is already gone," Csaba Weiner, chief scientific collaborator at the Institute of World Economics of MTA

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EUCHAM PUBLISHES MONTHLY CHARTS ON EUROPE-WIDE ISSUES

illustration by DNV

MIGRATION RATES IN EUROPE

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UNICEF CHOOSES BUDAPEST UN ORGANIZATION WILL ESTABLISH GLOBAL SERVICES CENTER IN HUNGARY

The Hungarian government and UNICEF announced this February that they agreed in principle to establish UNICEF’s first-ever Global Shared Services Center in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. The new center will conduct a broad range of UNICEF’s financial and human resource operations worldwide, enabling the children’s organization to realize greater efficiency and cost savings. As it was announced by State Secretary for Security Policy and International Cooperation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, István Mikola, Budapest was selected to host the center in the course of a tender announced in the summer of 2014, to which altogether twenty cities – among others Prague and Kuala Lumpur – applied. The facility will be located in Wesselényi Street in the downtown area and, according to the current plans, it will employ 350 people, 85% of whom will be Hungarians. “Hungary is truly honored to host the Global Shared Service Center of one of UN’s most important organizations,” the State Secretary said. He was of the view that “the Hungarian

government is committed to the noble goals of the UNICEF and echoes the importance of the protection of children to guarantee children's rights and ensure healthy living standards. UNICEF’s decision reflects the strong cooperation between Hungary and UNICEF and our shared efforts to protect children and families.”

The State Secretary also stated that UNICEF moves into a vacated building where substantial work – with substantial costs – will be needed to create the necessary conditions. Reconstruction work begins as early as this year in order for UNICEF's activities to start in the Budapest center. Once the renovation work is ready, the

bcsdh

Magyarországi Üzleti Tanács a Fenntartható Fejlődésért Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary

Budapest office of the organization will also move in there. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake pointed out that “every dollar UNICEF can save is another dollar we can use to improve children’s lives. The more efficient we are, the more effective our programs will be for children. We are looking forward to working closely with the government of Hungary to bring the center on line as soon as possible.” Key factors in UNICEF’s decision to locate in Hungary included a relatively low cost of doing business, highly-qualified workforce and robust infrastructure. Two other United Nations organizations – the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Foods and Agricultural Organization (FAO) – also operate global shared services centers in Budapest. The Global Shared Services Center will serve the entire organization, operating in multiple languages. It will deliver a range of administrative services to all UNICEF offices, including payments and invoice processing, payroll, some human resource functions, and the Information Technology helpdesk.

NETHERLANDS-HUNGARIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HOLLAND-MAGYAR KERESKEDELMI KAMARA

Invitation / Business Breakfast The Illusion of the Business Case for Sustainability

The Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce invite business leaders to the next series of BCSDH’s ’Business Breakfasts for Sustainable Development’. DaTe: Thursday, 26 March 2015, 8:30–10:00 / registration, arrival from 8:00 Venue: Corinthia Hotel Budapest / 1073 Budapest, Erzsébet krt. 43–49. The event will be opened by H.E. Mr. Gajus Scheltema, Dutch Ambassador to Hungary. The language of the event will be English.

RegISTRaTIon

Participation is free of charge for BCSDH members. For non-members: 10 000 HUF / person + VAT.

photo by GERGELY

BOTÁR

To guarantee your seat, register by 19 March via e-mail at Enikő Fábiánfy, eniko.fabianfy@bcsdh.hu Written cancellations are accepted by 19 March, 12:00. Late cancellations or “no-shows” will be charged. More information: www.bcsdh.hu

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Our guest speaker is Kitty van der Heijden, Director, World Resources Institute Europe, former Ambassador for Sustainable Development of the Netherlands. Despite many calls for action by scientists, policy makers and private sector actors to act on climate change and sustainable development in general, the transformation to a low-carbon economy is realized at a slower pace than is needed to avoid the consequences of climate change. Part of the problem is that many decision makers equate action on these issues with economic costs: a trade-off between ‘green’ and ‘growth’, and a reduced return on investments in sustainable growth. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In the keynote speech, Kitty van der Heijden will argue that the trade-off between economic growth, protecting the environment and fighting climate change is a false dilemma. It is possible to promote economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation, all while fighting climate change and reversing the trend of ecosystem degradation.

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culture.

RUNS SMOOTHLY and MOVES FAST

photos by ZOLTÁN

MÁTHÉ/MTI, COURTESY OF THE HUNGARIAN MUSEUM OF

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND TRANSPORT

It was at seven a.m. on Sunday March 1, 1915 that the first local public transport bus service began operation in Budapest, replacing the horse-drawn omnibuses. The buses departed from the corner of Aréna (today’s Dózsa György) Road and Nagy János (Benczúr) Street, ran along Andrássy Avenue and up to Vilmos császár (today’s Bajcsy-Zsilinszky) Road. As chief museologist Miklós Merczi of the Hungarian Museum of Science, Technology and Transport points out to Diplomacy & Trade, it might sound strange today but one of the two buses (a double-decker) used at the launch of the regular service a hundred years ago was actually powered by an electric engine (and the

other – that, unfortunately, broke down soon - by a gasoline engine). Within two years, the number of vehicles of various types was close to a dozen. According to a contemporary news report, “First, there were hardly any people using the appetizing and comfortable vehicle, the conductors on board needed to invite the public with kind encouragement. It was only later, when people learned that anyone can travel on these automobiles for 14 fillérs, that the business swung up and passengers swarmed the velvet couch of the vehicle and the benches of the upper deck. They were delighted to find that the new instrument ran smoothly and moved fast." Despite its favorable reception by the public, the first regular bus service was short-lived – due to Hungary’s involvement in World War I. The lack of rubber tires and gasoline, and the vehicles being ordered to the front line meant that the local bus transport was stalled and then came to a halt on April 10 1917. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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REGULAR BUS SERVICE LAUNCHED IN BUDAPEST 100 YEARS AGO

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B U S H I S TO RY: The first double-decker bus (made by AustroDaimler) that the bus service was launched with in 1915 (below) and old buses parade on Heroes Square at the 100th anniversary (above)

division was run by a separate company. However, as Miklós Merczi points out, it was even more important that the Hungarian bus manufacturing company Ikarus was reestablished and became the main supplier and servicer of vehicles for local transport in Budapest. Looking back to the years before World War II, the chief museologist finds it important to note that buses at that time constituted a small portion of the public transport in Budapest, which had an extensive tram network. In the times of BSZKRT, the number of tram lines came close to a hundred (today, this number is about 30). The main purpose of bus traffic was to transport people to the tram lines from areas that had no tram tracks. Nowadays, 70-75% of the daily passenger traffic in the capital is on bus lines. “Buses have an important role in Budapest local transport,” he concludes.

Buses on tracks

During World War II, rubber tire supply problems arose again but, Miklós Merczi says, quite a different solution was applied: the undercarriages of the buses were thrown out and the vehicles were equipped with railway wheels. Thus, buses began travelling on tram tracks. There were not many of them but they served a good purpose around 1942-43 until the shortage of fuel ended this operation also.

However, the balance of the over-two-year operation was favorable. The vehicles ran 274,000 kilometers altogether, transported 2.3 million passengers and were fiscally profitable. The regular bus service in Budapest was relaunched three years after the war, on September 24, 1921. In 1922, the Budapest Metropolitan Transport Company Limited by Shares (BSZKRT) was established. With this, the last obstacle to creating a unified public transport system in Budapest was removed. BSZKRT was the first – and later became the most important –municipal enterprise employing over 10 thousand people. BSZKRT was dissolved in 1949 and the bus

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Budapest public transport before 1915

BPublic transport has always played an essential role in the history of Budapest. The omnibus, appearing first in the streets of Paris (1662), gradually conquered the metropolises of Europe, and it finally appeared in Pest in 1832. The launching of omnibus services is regarded as the start of community transport in Budapest. However – in just three decades – a dangerous competitor emerged: the horse tramway appearing in 1866. With tram tracks constructed in several parts of the capital, the horse tramway was the first transport vehicle – considered very modern at that time – able to satisfy mass transportation needs. With its fast and regular runs the horse tramway brought certain parts of the expanding city closer to one another, and thereby played an essential role in the development of the town in the years to follow. The idea of building a funicular to the Castle district was raised by Ödön Széchenyi, the youngest son of Count István Széchenyi (the ‘greatest Hungarian’, Minister of Transport, the founder of modern Hungary through his ideas and his work.) The steam-driven funicular of Buda Castle Hill started operating as the second transport vehicle of its type on the continent at that time in 1870. Just four years later (a year after Pest, Buda and Óbuda merged as Budapest), the city also had a cogwheel railway. It connected inner Buda to Sváb Hill, a resort area at that time. Seeing the successful operation of this railway, the line was extended up to Széchenyi Hill in 1890. In 1887, the first steam-driven HÉV suburban railway line opened to commercial traffic due to the rising demand to join the conurbation settlements into the city transport. The same year, the first Budapest electric tramway departed from Nyugati (Western) Railway Station to Király Street a kilometer away. Its success brought about the electrification of the horse tram lines. Then, the electric tram went under the ground in May 1896 when the first underground railway of the European mainland, driven by electric railcars was officially launched.

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gastronomy gastronomy.

DELIZIA GOURMET & MORE

A Gastro Lover’s Paradise BY KRISZTINA HÍDVÉGI

How did you choose what products to stock on your shelves? We personally sought out the European artisan manufacturers from whom we chose the best quality products that we wanted to sell. Only the best of everything. One of our primary objectives was to stock the store with child-friendly health foods originating mainly from organic farms.

When I stepped into Delizia I felt like Alice in Wonderland. The variety is out of this world. My mouth started to water as I took in the sight of the seductively tempting gourmet foods. I would have loved to bundle up this magical world to take home.

Of course, I dismissed this thought as I started thinking seriously of the menu for my weekend dinner party. Luckily the free recipes placed amongst the shelves came to my aid. And, there was no need to wait until I got home to taste the culinary wonders. Behind the counter they were

Which Delizia product do you consider the most exciting? It’s a hard choice, since we stock such commodities as the world’s best olive oil, balsamic vinegar jam, Nuovo Mandrio’s prize-winning parmesan (it won the Best Italian Cheese Award three years straight between 2008 and 2011), San Daniele ham made based on the Bagatto family’s 100-year-old recipe, organic Ecomela apple and pear products and Osborne pata negra ham. Each and every one of them is of premium quality. We also sell Hungarian artisan products. One of the most popular Hungarian products is Tibor Szántó’s World Cup winning chocolate.

sunny Italian sea side. Wines from the best Italian wineries are available and it is possible to sit at the bar located next to the kitchen and enjoy a glass of wine, a grappa or a cocktail. Gianfranco

Romagnoli, the owner of the restaurant, greets guests with the typical Italian temperament and a big smile. He was born in Ancona, also known as the elbow of Italy, 300 kilometres from Rome. He has been living in Hungary since 1989. He says, the only thing he misses about Italy is the sea. This is obvious from the menu; seafood is prominent in many of the dishes. ’Seabass or seabream with tomato, garlic and white wine, turbot prepared sorrentina style, grilled swordfish, spaghetti carbonara with seafood, linguine with lobster and cherry tomato’ – The menu itself is a tempting taste of the sea. “Here everything is prepared by the original recipe. – says Gianfranco. The ingredients are from the market in Chioggia. I don’t have to hesitate for long. I won’t eat meat today, only fish. As a starter, I ask for a marinated fish selection. The combination swordfish, tuna and salmon are mouth-watering thin slices, spiced with orange juice and rose wine. It is a fresh, light start to my meal. The bread is freshly baked and tastes good. I drop some of Italy’s soul on it, the extra virgin, coldly pressed olive oil. Next, I order linguine with seafood (Linguine alla Scoglio). It is simply fantastic. The mussels, venus mussels, squid, octopus, shrimps, prawns and cherry tomatoes are in perfect harmony with the

OSTERIA ITALIANA L’ARANCETO Budapest 1054, Dorottya street 8. +3612693534 www.aranceto.hu Set in the buzzing 5th district, in the heart of Budapest, l’Aranceto (the orange grove) offers a unique blend of culinary perfection, cosy ambience and friendly, yet highly professional service. Located only a few steps away from Vörösmarty square, l’Aranceto represents a tranquil oasis, away from the frenzied traffic of the city, where guests are invited to taste delicious, traditional dishes prepared by the Italian chef, Safina Leonardo. When I was in Italy, it became clear to me, that there is no such thing as Italian cuisine. There is Neapolitan, Venetian and Sicilian. They cook differently in Tuscany than in Sardine, or in Calabria or by the Ligurian Sea. At l’Aranceto, Chef Leonardo prepares the specialities of the middle and southern regions of Italy. When I entered the restaurant, I felt as if I had returned to Italy. The interior can be characterised by solid elegance. On the wall there are photographs of Italian film stars. The pastel walls are brightened by orange chairs that provide a cheerful, warm atmosphere and remind me of the

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What kind of people shop here? Only from the wealthiest layer of society? Hungarian taste is improving and becoming more refined. More and more middle class customers come into our shop with specific ideas they want to carry out. We strive to help everyone find what they are looking for and to prove: the best is better than good. Do you have any self-manufactured products on your shelves? Yes, we make pastas, sauces, packaged spices and also sell ready-cooked meals. The amazing array of food is accompanied by an equally amazing variety of beverages. I’m a founding member of the Hungarian Sommelier Association. We strive to continuously broaden our prosecco, champagne and wine selection. We carry such prestigious wines as Salon, Ayala, Barnaut or Bollinger (James Bond’s favorit champagne), but wine lovers can also find products from Gaja’s, Chanson’s, Demeter’s and Ráspi’s wineries. We also stock various aged rum and cognac specialties and single malt whisky’s. Only the best and beyond! Buon Appetito and Cheers!

homemade pasta. As a main dish, octopus legs arrive. I feel like a queen, just looking at it.The enormous tentacles coil invitingly around the minty potato sauce. It is perfectly prepared, and very filling, even without garnish. My dinner would not be perfect, without the authentic Sicilian dessert, Semifreddo. The icy dessert is simply served with some chocolate filling. The chocolate is irresistible, it crowns the whole night. Tutto è bene, quel che finisce bene, which means, end is well, all is well.

HARANGOZÓ, JEAN-MICHEL KOSSA

already slicing me a taste of the two kings of acorn fed Ibérico hams: the prize winning Cinco Jotas (5J) and Joselito hams. As the first bite melted in my mouth, I couldn’t help but agree that they really are amazing! Next up was a taste of Papillon – the Rolls Royce of Roqueforts. I also sampled a piquant Hungarian cheese from the tuffaceous caves of Tekeresvölgy near Veszprém. The cheese was aged to perfection, and I could just imagine it paired with a recommended wine. I was accompanied on this culinary journey by store manager, Zoltán Kertai.

photos by DÁVID

There is a shop in the Buda hills, where the shelves are stocked with only the highest quality products. A shop, where you can literally buy the best products available. Apart from everyday items, connoisseurs can find artisan products from Hungary, Italy, France, Spain, and beyond. Just to name a few of the delicacies: cheese specialties, wines, hams and salamis, chocolates and sweets, an assortment of beverages, coffees and teas, cakes, cookies and pastries, chutneys, jams, oils and spices as well as essential ingredients for international recipes.

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hospitality

hospitality.

PÁRIZSI UDVAR

RENOVATION CONTRACT SIGNED

photos by DÁVID

HARANGOZÓ

Reconstruction of Párizsi Udvar, located at Ferenciek Square No.10. is officially in the planning phase. The contract signing ceremony between the management company Mellow Mood Group and the design company Archikon Ltd. was held on the 10th of February under the cupola of Párizsi Udvar. Párizsi Udvar was originally a magnificent shopping arcade in downtown Budapest. It was built in the early twentieth century in an eclectic style with a grandiose glass roof and plenty of sculptural decorations. The arcade is two levels high and has a vaulted roof made of stained glass with a striking hexagonal glass dome that was designed by Miksa Róth. It is decorated throughout with cast-iron and sculpted wooden ornaments. The floors are made of beautiful mosaic tiles. There are balconies, windows with bar tracery, pediments and sculptures. The Párizsi Udvar with its difficult fate was one of the most beautiful and well-known architectural works of the capital, whose condition steadily declined during the past years. Mellow Mood Group, owned and managed by Mr. Sameer Hamdan and Mr. Zuhair Awad proves once again that its dynamic, young, energetic team is able to bring projects to Hungary that will rescue and protect national monuments from devastation and give them back to the country as a diamond. Restoration of the Klotild Palace, in Budapest’s 5th district, is a prime example of the capabilities of the Mellow Mood Group. While renovating the historic Paris Court building, it is important to restore its original beauty, to save its characteristic features. Protected surfaces and structures will not be affected during the transformation. The new design includes maintaining the values of the building and reconstructing its original splendor. Shops, restaurants, fitness facilities and a conference facility will find a place beside the Buddha Bar Hotel Budapest Klotild Palace. Mellow Mood Group’s projects have not only contributed greatly to the beautification of Budapest’s city center but also to the increased numbers of tourists. Their hotels exceed guests’ expectations as well create new jobs. Today, their employees’ number more than 700, and after the opening of the Paris Court, they will provide another 250 jobs. The renovation of the building is currently in the planning stage with construction scheduled to begin this year. The opening is planned for the first quarter of 2017 but more optimistic expectations are that the opening ceremony could take place at the end of December 2016.

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what's on what's on.

MOVEMENT-ASPECT-PLACES CENTRAL EUROPE DANCE THEATRE

THE TREASURES OF ANCIENT CHINA

MARCH 19. 19:00 - 20:00 MOM CULTURAL CENTRE

UNTIL APRIL 19 MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS

The next performance of the Central Europe Dance Theatre faithfully follows the path of the joint professional thinking and work started by the National Dance Theatre, which they started in the relationship between dance and the audiences of dance. The production merges the traditionally separated performance and audience areas into one space. Owing to the unique technical features of the stage at the MOM Cultural Centre, the prospective audience can follow the performance in close-up. They can see in close up every single vibration of the dancer’s body, they can hear the flow of their physiques, they can feel and experience – and this is where we arrive at the speciality of the performance – the true dynamics of dance. If the company of the Central Europe Dance Theatre has appeared dynamic so far, then this performance will be a “fast train” worth getting a ticket for. Two South Korean guest artists who work with the company for a month as scholarship holders of the Korean Dance Festival 2014 and the Central Europe Dance Theatre, also perform in the production.

According to a Chinese proverb: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. In The Treasures of Ancient China, exhibition we can get one step closer to the five thousand years of history of this Asian country. (see our article on page 23) What was the art of this many thousand year old China like? What was the center of this empire and what objects of the past are recognizable? How can we differentiate between the cultures of the different Chinese courts that existed through the ages? The exhibition answers these questions. The most special pieces of the exhibition are two life-size clay soldiers, which come from the grave of Qin Shi Huang, the first Chinese emperor. The exhibition c ollected items from three Chinese museums, the chronologically oldest material coming from the Shaanxi History Museum. This province is one of the centers of the Chinese civilisation, and is therefore a rich archaeological find.

MÜPA10 – SPECIAL BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

1 MARCH 14 - 15

The Palace of Arts celebrates its tenth birthday with a special program series on March 14 and 15. The “crown jewel” of’Müpa's jubilee season will be culminate on this spring weekend when Hungarian artists who have provided outstanding concert experiences at the region's leading institution of the performing arts over the past decade are featured. The Hungarian National Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the MR Music Groups, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, the Orfeo Orchestra, the Purcell Choir – just to name a few of those groups taking the stage of the Müpa on March 14 and 15 to mark the institution's tenth birthday. On this special occasion, MÜPA will welcome audiences to a plethora of events, including classical, folk, world-music and jazz concerts, dance and contemporary circus, as well as numerous family programs, MüpaCinema and exhibitions. In addition to László Fassang giving an organ recital embellished with dance choreography and Béla Szakcsi Lakatos introducing young jazz talent, the two-day event will also feature Bea Palya, Kaláka, the Sebő Ensemble, Kálmán Balogh and the Gipsy Cimbalom Band, Szilvia Bognár, Ágnew Herczku, Ági Szalóki, Muzsikás, Juli Fábián, Bori Péterfy, Sena, Jamie Winchester, Zoli Beck ,Marci Likó (Vad Fruttik), Krisztián Szűcs ,András Lovasi and Budapest Bár. The MÜPA10 program series would not be complete without performances by the Recirquel Contemporary Circus Company and the National Dance Theatre – with the Yvette Bozsik Company and the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble entertaining the audience as representatives of the latter.

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LOOKING AHEAD BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL

4 APRIL 10-26

Between April 10 and 26 , Budapest will become a bustling cultural center with the fusion of classical music, opera, ballet, dance, theater, visual and fine arts. We can already check out the prospective programs. Some of the guest performers include: Denis Matsuev, Kirill Petrenko and the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mario Brunello, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Leo Nucci, Elina Garanča, the Gershwin Piano Quartet, Jack DeJohnette, David Sanborn, Ana Mourat and Dhafer Youssef. The festival will have many exciting productions to offer, such as Verdi’s Luisa Miller, performed by Naple’s opera house, the Teatro di San Carlo, with Romanian world star Elena Mosuc in the title role. We’ll also be able to see Johann Adolf Hasse’s baroque opera, Siroe, King of Persia with countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic singing the title role. Children won’t be left out of the festival either: they can watch “musical adventures in the land of fantasy” based on Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. Dance lovers should definitely not miss NDT’s (Nederlands Dans Theater) contemporary performance, Wayne McGregor’s Atomos, the Frenák Pál Company’s latest premier, or the Silver Anniversary version of Ferenc Novák’s legendary Hungarian Wedding Feast – on show again after 25 years. For the duration of the festival we will also be able to see Vilmos Zsigmond, Academy Award winner Hungarian cinematographer’s exclusive photo exhibition. Most of the festival’s programs will be held at the Palace of the Arts (MÜPA), the recently reopened Vigadó Concert Hall, Liszt Academy, BÁLNA Cultural Center and Budapest Music Center.

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OF ARTS BUDAPEST, JONATHAN KEENAN, TAMÁS OPITZ, BÁLINT HROTKÓ, GELLÉRT ÁMENT, BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL

photos by PALACE

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