Diplomacy & Trade 2018 December

DECEMBER 2018 HUF 1710

IT IS THE FESTIVE SEASON!

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The end of the year is a festive time in most parts of the world and Hungary is no exception.

Open air markets offer toys, handicrafts, souvenirs and culinary specialties in Budapest and throughout the countryside.

SEE MORE on page 41

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The overall goal Kuni Sato set for herself when she began her tenure as the Japanese Ambassador in Budapest was “to further develop the close and amicable relationship with Hungary that we and our ancestors have built up, so far.”

In an18009 interview, she tells Diplomacy&Trade that bilateral economic relations are built “through the goodwill and steady efforts of many people” and that Japanese people have a surprisingly good knowledge of Hungary.

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One-stop shop

see articles on pages 10-31

15 years of DIPLOMACY&TRADE

Thank you for the past 15 years cooperation as we look forward to our future together.

We wish our readers, advertisers and partners happy holidays and a prosperous new year!

The 18011 Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) has an important role in attracting German investments to Hungary. Its President, Róbert Ésik says in the Germany section of Diplomacy&Trade that in 2017, 30% of their projects were related to German companies and this ratio is even higher, some 35%, when considering the number of jobs or the value of the investment that these German companies represent. see article on page 35

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05 ON THE RECORD 06-07 COMPANY BRIEFS 08 ANALYSIS

Tie in the U.S. midterm elections

10-31 JAPANESE FOCUS

Interview with Ambassador Kuni Sato; Former Hungarian FM János Martonyi; JETRO; Economic Club; Shokokai; Takenaka; Honda; Asahi Dreher; Suzuki; Baker McKenzie; Toyota; Tokyo 2020; Bridgestone, JTB Heineken to use Hungarian hops; Tungsram returns 33 WITTYLEAKS by the Ambassador of Croatia

PUBLISHER: Peter Freed EDITOR: Sándor Laczkó COPY EDITOR: Joyce Freed PHOTO EDITOR: Dávid Harangozó SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR: Tamás Varga DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Tibor Ocsenás ADMINISTRATION: Judit Ludányi ASSISTANT: Ágnes Rapaport

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34-38 GERMANY

LIDL; HIPA; TÜV conference; Kempinski 40 WINE Aszú Day 41 TASTING Wine challenge; Festive season 42 HOSPITALITY Rick Enders in Doha 43 TOURISM Festive season in Slovakia 44-45 SOCIETY 46-47 CULTURE Wapikoni; JVS Group Hungary 48-49 WHAT’S ON Concerts, festivals, events and exhibitions in and out of Budapest 51 GASTRONOMY Rajkot Palace

Diplomacy&Trade is preparing a special Focus section on Austrian-Hungarian relations following Austria holding the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2018. In fact, the New Year brings the 25th anniversary of their successful referendum to join the EU. Austria is Hungary’s second most important trading partner and one of its biggest investors. Our Focus features an interview with Ambassador Elizabeth Ellison-Kramer on the achievements of the Austrian EU Presidency as well as aspects of good neighborly relations. We also plan to present the Austro-Hungarian Business Council, the Andrássy University in Budapest of which Austria is a founder and an interview with Christoph Waltz who earned the Best Actor Award at Cannes in 2009 for his performance in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

gergelyzakany.com, Mina Kadowaki, Bridgestone, Takenaka, Debomit Chakraborty, Honda, Tamás Varga, Toyota, Lancecenar, www.sandorfegyverneky.com, Zsolt Mészáros, Gábor Fényes, Péter Szalmás/ Hungarian Olympic Committee, Béla Győr, Embassy of Croatia, Lidl Hungary, Péter Fáth, Zoi Psaroudaki, Mathieu Buzzetti/ MBMPhoto, Vicky Moar-Niquay, Tímea Hajdrák, JVS Group, Panayiotis Mina, Angelo Trani, András Dabasi, Judit Kardos, Ákos Stiller, Weegee, Furmint Photo, MTI Photos: Attila Kovács, Zoltán Máthé, György Varga, Noémi Bruzák, Balázs Mohai

annual fee of EUR 72 in Hungary, or EUR 90 to all other destinations. SEND REQUESTS AND INQUIRIES TO DUAX KFT. H-1034 Budapest, Bécsi út 60.

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AUSTRIAN FOCUS - COMING SOON

CONTRIBUTORS: Sándor Laczkó, Tamás Magyarics, Réka A. Francisck, Mladen Andrlic PHOTO CONTRIBUTORS: Depositphotos.com (Cover), Evosoft, Egis, Depositphotos.com, Márton Kovács/MFAT, MandiEmese.hu Gergely Zákány/www.

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Heineken beer to be made from Hungarian hops again

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Peter Freed

Former Budapest hotel director in Doha, Qatar

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As 2018 draws to a close and we celebrate the holiday season, the most frequent comment I hear is that this year has gone by so fast… or so it seems that each year goes by faster. How is that possible? I assume it’s because we have so many things on our to-do lists there’s never enough time to accomplish all our goals. So, should we hold back? No, no, no.

Always go for it! I’m very proud of our team’s accomplishments this year and I’m very thankful for all the positive comments from our readership.

The country in focus in this December issue is Japan that celebrates the Emperor’s birthday this month. We are grateful to the Japanese Ambassador to Hungary, Kuni Sato, for an interview covering a wide ranging matters of bilateral relations. A common issue in the interviews with Japanese companies and organizations is that they love – and know a lot about – Hungary, but many of them are worried about the labor shortage that has posed a challenge to them in the recent years.

Our international affairs analyst declares the results of the recent midterm elections in the United States a tie. Although, given the fact that the Democrats have regained control of the House and the Senate Republicans are in disarray, it appears that the Democrats have the momentum. The run-up to the presidential elections in two years’ time is sure to be the most expensive and hardest fought battle in history. We will be following this battle closely as the whole world will be affected by its results.

The business page this month features two returns: Heineken will soon produce beer from Hungarian hops again as a result of a sustainability model launched this November and Tungsram, which was a household name in lighting in Hungary for many decades, once again appears, replacing the name ‘GE Lighting’.

As a continuation of a recent country focus on Germany, we discuss German investments with the President of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency and, among other topics, report on a conference that focused on safety in e-mobility, which is one of the hottest topics of the years to come.

The WittyLeaks column is authored by the Croatian Ambassador on how the football success of his country’s national team helped enhance the image of Croatia in Hungary.

In culture, I would like to call your attention to the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, while our wine reports not only include Aszú Day but also cover the very first ‘DT Wine Challenge’, the start of a Diplomacy&Trade series judging quality Hungarian wines.

From all of us at Diplomacy & Trade, we wish you a very happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

Wapikoni: International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival

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on the record

followed in this area. As the Dutch Ambassador René van Hell put it, "I am proud that we were one of the first countries to set quantitative targets for a circular economy. But this is still not enough for us; we set the bar even higher: The Netherlands is working hard to achieve an economy without waste, an economy that reuses raw materials. We want to have a completely circular economy by 2050!"

UPCOMING NATIONAL DAYS December

SPORTS DIPLOMACY EXCHANGE

THE DAY OF HUNGARIAN DIPLOMACY

The first sports diplomacy exchange organized by the Embassy of Colombia in Hungary took place on November 11-20 with the cooperation of significant Hungarian partners, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Budapest Mayor's Office, the Hungarian School Sports Federation and the Hungarian Swimming Federation.

It is a program of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs aimed at strengthening the practice of sports among young people and offering them opportunities for a better future.

‘The Day of Hungarian Diplomacy’ was organized in November by the National University of Public Service’s Faculty of International and European Studies in Budapest.

In his speech, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó voiced the government’s view that for Europe to be strong and competitive requires allowing competition within the EU, restoring the security of the European people, preserving Christian culture and identity, holding an objective debate on the multiannual European budget, European institutions reflecting on European reality and accelerating Western Balkan enlargement.

According to the Rector of the National University of Public Service, András Koltay, European culture set out from three places: the Calvary, the Acropolis in Athens and the Capitolium in Rome. “There are, however, currently perceptible problems with all three: respect for and the influence of Christianity, as symbolized by the Calvary; democracy, as symbolized by the Acropolis; and law, as symbolized by the Capitolium, have all been undermined”, he stated. The Rector said that in his opinion none of these could fully handle the difficulties of 20th century Europe, but we nevertheless cannot turn to other values, since “we cannot be anything other than what we are”.

The Dean of the Faculty of International and European Studies, Boglárka Koller said the Day of Hungarian Diplomacy is a “freshly constructed event”, which is necessary because it is important to talk about diplomacy on a predetermined day. This day is held on November 19, because it was on this day in 1335 that the Congress of Visegrád took place, she explained. This day provides an opportunity for both professional and scientific discussions, and the Faculty would like to contribute to this with today’s conference, she said.

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As part of this first exchange, nine young Colombian female swimmers came to train in Hungary. They were selected from poor municipalities for having excelled in the practice of swimming.

The organization of this sports diplomacy exchange was made possible through cooperation with Hungarian public and private entities, whose help and hospitality was key to enabling the success of this bilateral cooperation project, the Colombian Embassy in Budapest said.

The Colombian swimmers met with high officials and also with Olympic and world champions, such as Ágnes Kovács, Attila Czene, Tünde Szabó and Kristóf Milak.

The program of the Latin American swimmers included daily training session in the Duna Aréna, the venue of last year’s World Swimming Championships, as well as activities like a guided tour in the building of Hungarian Parliament, visiting the Budapest Zoo and the ‘Hospital in the Rock’ in Gellért Hill, sightseeing that included Heroes Square, Vajdahunyad Castle, the shopping street Váci utca and St. Stephen’s Basilica and even hiking in the Buda Hills.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY PLATFORM ESTABLISHED

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MÁRTON KOVÁCS/MFAT, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, BALÁZS MOHAI/MTI, MANDIEMESE.HU

CHAIN BRIDGE IN SCOTTISH COLORS The Széchenyi Chain Bridge in the Hungarian capital displayed blue and white decorative lighting on November 30, St. Andrew's Day, in honor of the National Day of Scotland.

At the start of the festive light painting, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Hungary, Iain Lindsay – dressed in Scottish national attire (kilt) – delivered a ceremonial welcome speech at Eötvös Square near the Pest foot of the Chain Bridge. It was accompanied by a short ceremony with a Scottish bagpipes entertaining those in attendance.

Iain Lindsay said that as the Ambassador of the United Kingdom and a proud Scottish person, it was a great pleasure and honor for him to have the Chain Bridge, an iconic sight of the Hungarian capital as well as the symbol of close British-Hungarian and Scottish-Hungarian relations, in blue and white. He pointed out that on St. Andrew's Day, the National Day of the Scots, decorative lighting would uniquely display the colors of the Scottish national flag known as St. Andrew’s Cross or 'Saltire'.

Those familiar with Hungarian history may know that the construction work of the Chain Bridge, and later that of the Buda Castle Tunnel, was directed by Adam Clark, an Edinburgh-born Edinburgh engineer based on plans by an English engineer and namesake, William Tierney Clark.

The festive light painting was initiated by Duncan Graham, the President of the Saint Andrew's Association, which is comprised of Scots living in Hungary, the British Ambassador Iain Lindsay, and implemented in cooperation with the British Embassy – with the consent of the Municipality of Budapest – for two days (November 30 and December 1).

On November 29, 2018, the Circular Economy Platform was officially established in Hungary at the initiative of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Ministry of Innovation and Technology. BCSDH says the shift to a circular economy represents a great business opportunity. The core of the concept is not yet deeply recognized by most companies, although, the use of this model can increase the resilience of the world economy and facilitate the achievement of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The circular economy will be a business opportunity worth USD 4.5 thousand billion by 2030.

At a solemn ceremony, 33 leaders of 41 committed companies, institutions and organizations personally signed the Memorandum of Understanding. The justification and importance of the initiative was highlighted and praised by Balázs Weingartner, Minister of State for Sustainability when he signed the Memorandum in the name of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology.

"BCSDH and its partners play a prominent role in facilitating the paradigm shift and joint thinking, along with building a community of forward-thinking change leaders and sharing business solutions that make a real impact," BCSDH President Attila Chikán Jr. highlighted in his speech. "For the new model to develop and spread, collaboration and knowledge-sharing are required, with the involvement of businesses, government and science,” he added.

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JOULUPUKKI ARRIVES IN BUDAPEST The Finnish Santa Claus, Joulupukki arrived in Hungary at the end of November. Unlike in other countries, kids in Hungary are visited by Santa Claus on December 6, the day of St. Nicholas.

Therefore, each year Joulupukki, the ‘authentic’ Santa Claus, traditionally comes to Hungary prior to that date every year from Lapland where he lives deep in a pine forest, north of Rovaniemi beyond the North Arctic Circle. This time, he landed in Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Finnair’s scheduled flight on November 29.

By arriving early, Joulupukki has time to look around in the country and find as many children as possible before December 6. This year, Joulupukki felt at home as he was received with a temperature of zero degrees and intense cold wind at Budapest’s airport. On the runway, the Finnish ‘Mikulás’ (as Santa Claus is known in Hungary) was welcomed by the children ‘Country of Smile’ Kindergarten from the nearby town of Vecsés, the kindergarten aged children of some lucky airport workers and a nearly fifty-strong media team.

Joulupukki was the last to leave the aircraft, then, he listened to the songs of the Vecsés kindergarten children and received greeting drawings from them. Many of the older children wrote letters to Santa Claus about what they would like to receive as gifts. During his stay in Hungary, Joulupukki usually meets children in some of the kindergartens and schools in Budapest and then goes for a tour of the countryside.

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company briefs JAGUAR LAND ROVER TECHNICAL ENGINEERING OFFICE

TWO NEW SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENTS IN HUNGARY As a key strategic partner of Siemens AG, evosoft Hungary will grow through two new investments in the country. Its ‘MindSphere Based Ecosystem for Industry’ project focuses on industrial automation, with the targeted objective to cater for the service's IT background.

The development, worth over EUR 14 million, is expected to create overall 75 new jobs in Budapest and Miskolc. At the same time, evosoft has launched another project with geared to modernize its plants in Szeged and Miskolc, where the investment of almost EUR 2.5 million will provide work to some 50 additional employees.

Evosoft Hungary is a key participant in the Hungarian information technology sector, being an active contributor to industrial automation technology and control solutions, railway applications and medical devices and the development of the corporate IT systems at Siemens, HIPA reports. The number of its software developers is on a steady rise. Currently, the company employs 1,600 professionals in that field, giving work to its experts in Budapest and in the cities of Miskolc and Szeged in the countryside. The company's dynamic growth is also marked by its moving to a new center in Budapest at the beginning

of 2021. A six-storey, fully accessible building is planned to provide a flexible, modern work environment to the software developers at evosoft Hungary. The new site, meeting the requirements of digitalization, will be located in the neighborhood of the Budapest University of Technology and the building of the Faculty of Informatics of the Eötvös Loránd University. In December 2015, evosoft Hungary signed a memorandum of cooperation with the University of Dunaújváros, and concluded a strategic agreement with Óbuda University and it also has ties with several other universities in the country.

EGIS TO DEVELOP HIGHLY POTENT PRODUCTS

and capsules and more than 150 million boxes of drugs annually that are sold in 62 countries. The international group of companies employing almost 4,500 people places strong emphasis on research and development to ensure continuous improvement, with HUF 13 billion (some EUR 40 million) spent in the financial year of 2016/2017.

The strategic goal of Egis is to develop and produce generic drugs representing high added value, and furthermore, to expand its product portfolio with the inclusion of oncology products. The creation of this portfolio was started by the marketing of the company's license products and by setting up a special analytical release laboratory. 2014 saw the company starting to develop its own generic, highly potent active ingredients and finished products in the research and development laboratories located in Budapest.

Following the completion of the investment, all stages of development and production of HP drugs will become feasible at Egis, considerably increasing the creation of added value in Hungary.

A new development project by Hungary’s Egis Pharmaceuticals Plc will take place at the company's manufacturing unit in Körmend (W Hungary) as the result of an investment of EUR 21.8 million. With the aim of facilitating further progress, this new project enables the company to produce and develop Highly Potent (HP) products, which are substances (mainly used in oncology therapy) that can exert a strong biological effect in small doses. In addition, a new packaging site will also be constructed.

Egis, with a history of more than 100 years, is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Hungary as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. In Hungary, its drugs are developed and produced at three production sites – two of these in Budapest and one in Körmend.

The company produces more than five billion tablets

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Doosan, with its headquarters in South Korea, has opted for Hungary to be the location of its new plant. The investment, worth almost EUR 100 million, is expected to create 181 new jobs in the Tatabánya Industrial Park. The factory, to be completed in the second half of 2019, will produce around 50,000 tons of red copper foil a year, enough for the batteries of some 2.2 million electric cars.

According to a report by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), the company's presence in around 40 countries underlines Doosan Group's market potential. Building on a corporate history of over 120 years, its turnover approximated USD 16 billion in 2017. Providing work to some 37,900 people across the globe, Doosan is active in several economic fields, from the building industry to electronics.

The new Hungarian investment will enable the company to strengthen its electronic branch. Currently, it has production plants in seven countries, relying on the expertise of some 2,000 employees. The company's 137 clients come from 21 countries, while its partners include Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Intel, SK Innovation, Cisco, Nokia and Facebook. Opening up to additional solutions, Doosan's latest endeavors focus on the automotive industry and 5G. Through this Hungarian investment, Doosan could become the sole supplier of copper foil in Europe, which may allow the company to achieve its growth ambitions in the United States and China from a pole position.

Hungary has seen a number of electromobility-related investments recently. Samsung SDI opened its battery factory in Göd last year. This March, SK Innovation announced it will build a battery cell plant in Komárom.

Production was started in the battery component plant of the South Korea based company of Shinheung this spring, at the same time GS Yuasa laid the foundation stone for its lithium-ion battery production plant in Miskolc.

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SOUTH KOREAN E-MOBILITY INVESTMENT IN HUNGARY

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) opens its new technical engineering office in Budapest to support the company's European supply chain management. The 100 new jobs will complement corporate, research and development (R&D), engineering and manufacturing functions headquartered in the UK. JLR, the UK’s largest automotive manufacturer, chose Hungary because of the close proximity to many key automotive suppliers and a decades-strong track record of automotive engineering talent.

The facility will open in early 2019. Engineers in the Budapest office will work alongside Jaguar Land Rover's supply chain located in Europe to support the launch of vehicles into the company's global manufacturing locations. The center in Budapest joins Jaguar Land Rover's engineering network in the UK, Republic of Ireland, China and North America. As JLR Executive Director of Product Engineering, Nick Rogers pointed out, “Hungary has a strong track record in automotive engineering. We have chosen it as the location for a new engineering base to enable close collaboration with our suppliers located in Central and Eastern Europe. The team in Budapest will complement the suppliers and supplier technical assistance that we already partner with in the region, as well as our teams in the UK.” The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó said this announcement by Jaguar Land Rover “marks a new chapter in the Hungarian automotive industry as we welcome a new premium OEM to our country. The decision of the UK's largest automotive manufacturer to open a technical engineering office in Budapest reaffirms our foreign direct investment strategy and in particular our specific focus on high quality automotive-related growth.”

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company briefs NEW AUTOMOTIVE TEST BASE AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER

The world's leading independent development company in the automotive industry, the Austrian firm AVL, will establish its new Hungarian headquarters and test base in Érd, just outside Budapest. In the new complex, to be implemented in the framework of a greenfield development on 5.7 hectares, traditional and electric test benches will be used from 2020 on, for the development, simulation and testing of new generation internal combustion, hybrid and electric engines and power trains.

During its 15-year existence, AVL Hungary has become a first-line research and development center in the field of power technology. At the Hungarian division of AVL, several hundred collaborators manage entire development cycles and take part in the different phases of engine design, software development, simulation, manufacturing design, calibration and test bench measurement. Thanks to the outstanding performance of its 9,500 collaborators employed worldwide, AVL's technical innovations are present in the passenger car, heavy vehicle, machine tool, railway vehicle manufacturing and shipbuilding industries on five continents, including the passenger cars and commercial vehicles manufactured in Hungary.

The Austrian company has extended its activities continually in Hungary, which is well represented by the fact that it will double its employees by the end of 2018 and foresees a significant headcount increase in the coming years. In addition to sites operating in Kecskemét and Zalaegerszeg, AVL's Hungarian headquarters is located in Budapest, which will move to the Érd complex in 2020.

AVL Hungary pays an ever increasing attention to environment-friendly electric and hybrid solutions and to the development of automotive motor vehicles, which will be at the main focus of the vehicle industry in the near future.

The Uflex Group, India's largest multinational flexible packaging material company, is establishing a new plant in Rétság, north of Budapest, through an investment of more than EUR 70 million.

From 2020, the Hungarian subsidiary FlexFilms Europa Ltd. will produce a completely new type of foil, never seen in Europe before, at the new plant, creating 170 new jobs. The announcement of the investment in Budapest was attended by Uflex owner Ashok Kumar Chaturvedi (pictured).

A report by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) says Uflex has a very large portfolio, supplying to customers in more than 140 countries. Its product line includes big brands such as P&G, PepsiCo, Tata Global, L' Oreal, Ferro Rocher, GSK, Nestlé, Coca-Cola or Johnson&Johnson.

The group had a consolidated income of about USD 1 billion, has 8,000 employees around the world, and operates high-tech production units not only in Asia but also North America and Africa.

Their factory at Rétság will be their second European plant, from which 50,000 tons of products annually will be supplied to the European customers after reaching full capacity.

India is the 9th largest investor in Hungary, as the direct capital investments from the country exceeded USD 2.2 billion in 2016. Over the past years, a number of significant Indian investments have been completed in Hungary, such as the inauguration of Apollo's tire factory in Gyöngyöshalász in April 2017, the factory inauguration of SMP, also an automotive industry company, last November, and, in June this year, the construction of a plastic packaging foil factory by the SRF chemical industry conglomeration has been confirmed.

NEW TEVA UNIT INAUGURATED IN DEBRECEN The newest basic substance production unit of one of the world's most reputed pharmaceutical companies has been inaugurated in Debrecen, E Hungary. Within the framework of the development, a twostory manufacturing area with high headroom and 11 reactor halls and an adjacent four-story service building block have been completed. As a result of the investment project worth of more than EUR 15 million, Teva's global active ingredient production capacities will more than double, the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) reports.

The factory is suitable for manufacturing the active ingredient of Caspofungin, an antimycotic active ingredient used in the treatment of grave and systemic diseases (detectable at several points in the organism).

Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, dating back more than a century, is the world's leading generic pharmaceutical manufacturer. The company is active in more than 60 markets, with production plants in 33 countries and R&D centers in 18 countries. Its products are used in the treatment of 200 million patients a day. Teva has been present in Hungary for 25 years as one of the leading players of the Hungarian pharmaceutical market, and also as one of the most important employers in the Debrecen area.

Its pharmaceutical and basic substance production plant in Debrecen plays a key role on the European market, producing nearly 10 billion tubes of medicine a year. Teva's Hungarian manufacturing plants export their products to European, American and other markets, ensuring work thereby for two thousand Hungarian employees. Construction work on the new plant of a surface of approximately 1,500m2 started in January 2017. The most important ‘pro’ argument for implementing the project in Debrecen included the unique set of assets and knowledge available at this plant. The factory will use the most state-of-the-art technologies currently available in the pharmaceutical industry.

CAR PARK CONSTRUCTION AT BUDAPEST AIRPORT The construction of a six-level multi-story car park (MSCP) has been ceremoniously started in front of Terminal 2 of Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport. In the area closed to the public since October 1, a multifunctional car park building accommodating 2,500 vehicles is to be erected. After handover, passengers will be able to walk directly to the terminal. After grading and demolition works, construction of the new MSCP was started by cutting the first sod. The new building is scheduled for handover in the second quarter of 2020. Car rental service providers and their vehicles will occupy the bottom level, and the building will feature e-charging stations, a car wash service, and so-called XXL parking spaces for the increasingly popular urban SUVs. In front of the MSCP, Budapest Airport is also installing a dedicated area for tour buses and Budapest public transport services.

The construction of the MSCP is part of BUD 2020, the airport development program of Budapest Airport, in which the company is investing EUR 160-180 million of its own resources in the infrastructure of Liszt Ferenc International Airport. As the CEO of Budapest Airport, Jost Lammers pointed out, “I am

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MÁRTON KOVÁCS/MFAT, GERGELY ZÁKÁNY/WWW.GERGELYZAKANY.COM, DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM, ZOLTÁN MÁTHÉ/MTI

NEW PACKAGING MATERIAL PLANT ESTABLISHED

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proud that with this project we can continue to expand the infrastructure of Budapest Airport and can make the pre-flight phase of the journey more convenient for travelers arriving by car or by buses at the airport.” Over the last five years, Budapest Airport has spent about EUR 12 million EUR on car park development. “I promise that we will make all efforts to complete the multi-story car park building in high quality and within the given timeframe, thus supporting the development strategy of BUD and serving the comfort of the passengers,” the CEO of the construction company KÉSZ Építő Zrt., Zoltán Sáray said.

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analysis them, ’Trumpists’ were elected. In general, the Republican Party has become more supportive of Donald Trump than it was in 2016; it seems that the party will be more unified behind him in 2020 than it was in 2016. It was also a sort of victory that the Republican Party did not get a ’shellacking’, which the Democrats suffered in 2010 when they lost six Senate seats and in the excess of 60 seats in the House, too. That is, some sort of damage control was working in a by-election when, as a tendency in the past few decades, the ruling party lost big.

Perpetual Democratic opposition It is quite safe to predict that given the polarized political life and the extreme emotions on both sides, gridlock will likely be the name of the game in the U.S. Congress (and government in general) for the next two years. The Democrats are bent on making Donald Trump a one-term President, and they will be doing everything in their capacity to deny success for the President.

Nevertheless, the White House may lay a trap for them by introducing popular bills, such as, for instance, a permanent tax cut for the middleclass. Opposing it may be lethal for the Democrats in the upcoming presidential and congressional elections. Another sensitive issue is how the Democrats will use the ’power of the purse’. In an extreme case, a government shutdown may backfire for the Democrats, though, it can equally hurt the Republicans if they are seen as more intransigent by the public. Perpetual Democratic opposition to the President’s policies is certain in the Senate, too, as about half a dozen Democratic senators are considering running for President in 2020 (Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Globuchar, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker, but there might be others who’ll throw in their hats in the contest). They are expected to play for the ’gallery’ to a large extent, that is, to the Democratic core voters who are increasingly on the left of the party (the so-called progressives).

These presidential hopefuls will come under pressure in Congress itself by, among others, a group of new members including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Rashida Tlaib or Ilham Omar.

As the name suggests, the congressional election in 2018 is a good year for women politicians: for the first time in the history of the United States more than a hundred women have been elected into the House of Representatives; about fourfifths of them on the Democratic Party ticket.

The Republicans have decidedly lost a number of women voters as well as votes in the suburbs.

A TIE – WHO WILL BREAK IT? CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Both the Democrats and the Republicans claimed victory in the recent congressional elections – and, ironically, both can be right at the same time. Despite the fact that the votes had to be recounted at places, it is clear that the Democrats won the House of Representatives, while the Republicans retained their control in the Senate. It is often overlooked that there were gubernatorial elections in dozens of states; here, the Democrats gained some seats, but the Republicans kept most the contested governors’ houses, including the ones in Georgia and Florida where the Democratic candidates (Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum, respectively) received huge publicity and boost from celebrities and the liberal media.

Possible impeachment The Democrats’ control of the House may become very ominous for President Trump. The two major responsibilities of the U.S. Congress is legislation and scrutiny. The Democrats, in majority in each

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of the standing committees, and with practically unlimited rights to create special ones, are likely to revive hearings regarding the Russian interference in the presidential election in 2016; the likely new Chair of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff (CA) is one of the most relentless adversaries of the President. In case any serious evidence of collusion between the Trump team and the Russians surfaces, the Committee will no doubt initiate the impeachment process against the President. Similar procedure may be awaiting Brett Kavanagh, the recently appointed Associate Judge in the U.S. Supreme Court for alleged perjury. (The fight over his nomination was one of the most important wedge issues before the elections insofar as it mobilized large segments both parties.) In general, the Democrats will have ample opportunities to flood the White House with subpoenas and to demand tons of documents on all conceivable (and inconceivable) topics.

In short, they can make President Trump’s life much more miserable in the White House than it was in the previous two years. However, Speaker Pelosi and the senior Democratic Party leaders should exercise restraint in obstructing every

move of the administration; if the party is seen too bent on pursuing narrowly defined partisan politics, it might be counterproductive in 2020.

Damage control The Republicans (and personally President Trump) can claim victory of sorts, as well.

Retaining the Senate was paramount for the President. It is here that decision is made about the removal of the President (or any senior official) from office with a two-thirds majority – there is almost zero chance that the Senate Republicans will vote for the impeachment.

Moreover, it is the Senate that confirms the nomination of senior officials, including the nominees for the Supreme Court. Given the old age and the frail state of health of a liberal-minded judge (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), President Trump might even have a chance to send a third judge to the Court with the result of a 6 to 3 conservative (originalist) majority in the body for years to come. Donald Trump has scored another victory in the Senate: some of his vocal opponents (such as Jeff Flake and Bob Corker) did not run; in place of D E C E M B E R

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A new race is already on It does not seem to be an exaggeration that the moment the votes were counted after this year’s congressional election, the race for the White House and the new U.S. Congress in 2021 started. As for the congressional election, it will be the Republicans who will have to defend roughly twice as many seats in the Senate as the Democrats, and even if Donald Trump serves his full term, the controversies surrounding his policies and style will not abate. So, the bookies around the world are possibly giving shorter odds on the Democrats’ breaking the political tie on November 3, 2020 than on the Republicans’ ability to keep the White House and one or two houses of Congress.

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BUILDING ON AN AMICABLE RELATIONSHIP

“Japan and Hungary have been constructing a friendly relationship for a long time, since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1869. This bilateral relationship has been dramatically promoted since 1989 when Hungary experienced a change of regime, to which Japan provided support.

The two countries cooperate in various areas including global issues,” Ambassador Sato points out. She adds that “the year of 2019 will mark the 150th anniversary since Japan and Hungary established diplomatic relations. We would like to commemorate this year with a series of events that will further promote mutual understanding

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and strengthen the ties for cooperative and friendly relations between our countries.”

Five goals Kuni Sato took up her position in the Hungarian capital a year ago. She explains to Diplomacy&Trade that upon arrival here, she set five goals for herself as the Ambassador of Japan in Hungary: (1) get to know Hungary better in its historical perspectives and various aspects of life; (2) make Japan better known, including through its cuisine or performing arts; (3) strengthen the economic ties between the two countries; (4) promote cultural and people-to people exchange; and (5) through these four points, “further develop the close and amicable relationship with Hungary that we and our ancestors have built so far.”

FACTS COMPARED AREA country comparison to the world POPULATION country comparison to the world POPULATION GROWTH RATE country comparison to the world BIRTH RATE country comparison to the world LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH country comparison to the world GDP - PER CAPITA (PPP) country comparison to the world UNEMPLOYMENT RATE country comparison to the world TELEPHONES - MOBILE/CELLULAR country comparison to the world AIRPORTS country comparison to the world

HUNGARY

JAPAN

93,028 sq km 111 9,850,845 (July 2017 est.)

92 -0.25% (2017 est.)

214 9 births/1,000 population 205 76.1 years 91 $28,900 (2017 est.)

69 4.4% (2017 est.)

59 11,779,908 78 41 (2013) 104

377,915 sq km 63 126,168,156 (July 2018 est.)

10 -0.24% (2018 est.)

212 7.5 births/1,000 population (2018 est.)

223 85.5 years (2018 est.)

2 $42,900 (2017 est.)

42 2.9% (2017 est.)

34 170,128,499 (2017 est.)

7 175 (2013) 33

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BY SÁNDOR LACZKÓ

Source: The CIA World Factbook D E C E M B E R

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INTERVIEW WITH KUNI SATO, JAPANESE AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY

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japan focus As an example, she mentions that she tries to be active in Japan-related local events such as: the planting of cherry trees, a Shakuhachi’s (Japanese flute) performance or whenever a Hungarian piece is played by a Japanese pianist.

As regards bilateral economic ties, the Ambassador notes that “labor shortage, for example, has become an urgent concern for the Hungarian economy. Its growth would require a shift from labor-intensive to capital-intensive industries. Production efficiency, engineer training and R&D’s expansion are all on the agenda for Hungary. And I believe that Japanese companies and their counterparts will grow together in Hungary.”

She adds that “when I arrived, I thought the upcoming diplomatic relations anniversary would provide a good opportunity to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The Embassy of Japan has been preparing several cultural events, such as the ‘Ikebana demonstration’ and the ‘Japanese Drum concert’ as opening and closing anniversary events. The first will be held on February 14 next year at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where the Master teacher of the Sogetsu School will demonstrate Ikebana and talk about its history and the idea behind it. The concert is planned for November 25, 2019 at the MÜPA Budapest (Palace of Arts). Through these events, we will introduce different aspects of Japan and its diversity.”

would mention the well-maintained road network, relatively inexpensive skilled labor force within the European Union, good public security, strategic location in the middle of Europe, low corporate tax, investment incentives and tax rate deduction.

The recent trend favoring additional investments for business expansions, rather than new investments for new business, suggests that the Japanese companies operating in the Hungarian market assess positively their business environment. At the same time, for many of them, the recent wage increase and shortage of workforce pose a serious business challenge.

Feeling at home

SPECIAL RECOLLECTION BY AMBASSADOR SATO

In 1993, I visited Budapest for the first time in my life and was struck by the beauty of the city. I bought a poster depicting in somewhat funny way four butlers carrying UNICUM and other liquors. The poster came back to Budapest after a quarter century, travelling with me from Bangkok, Washington D.C, Tokyo, Brussels, Geneva, Tokyo and Paris. The four butlers, having come home after a long journey, now welcome guests to the residence.

Economic relations “Friendly relations between the two countries have been built not only by the governments, but also through the goodwill and steady efforts of many people working in the private sectors,” the Ambassador stresses. She adds that soon after the change of regime in Hungary in 1989, Japan started to support Hungary for the reformation of the new economy, and through this process, the relationship between the two countries progressed dramatically.

Magyar Suzuki Corporation Ltd., an automobile company, was the earliest to invest among foreign firms. Many Japanese-owned companies followed and started to build highly reliable supply chains.

Currently, there are about 160 Japanese-owned companies operating in Hungary, many of which are in the automotive industry, and are creating approximately 33,000 job opportunities for the people in Hungary. This year, GS Yuasa, Zoltek, Magyar Suzuki and Nidec have decided one after another to make additional investments to create

new high added values in Hungary. The Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which is aimed to come into effect in 2019, further helps promote trade and investment transactions between the two countries.

Important investor As regards the main attractive features of Hungary for Japanese investors, Ambassador Sato highlights that companies which have recently chosen Hungary as a destination for their investments

At the end of September, the ambassador attended the inauguration ceremony of a new factory by the Japanese-owned automotive supplier NIDEC GPM Hungary, an example that there is continuing interest by Japanese investors towards opportunities in this country, while the flagship of Japanese investments here, the Magyar Suzuki has had more than three million vehicles rolling out of its Esztergom factory already. She agrees with the assessment that Japanese automotive companies are ‘feeling at home’ here in Hungary.

“There may be several reasons they would feel comfortable operating in Hungary. Firstly, their employees here provide quality work, and they are diligent. Secondly, Hungary has built a matured auto industry. The German and other multinational manufacturers of car/automotive parts have also expanded their businesses in Hungary. This naturally attracts new investors.” There may be another factor related to this, she adds. “Magyar Suzuki Corporation Ltd. has not only introduced the technology of car manufacturing and the spirit of craftsmanship, but also developed supply chains, including logistics for automobile industry. This might mean to Hungarians that Japan is not only a pioneer in this field but also a fellow colleague who has been supporting the industry and economy together.”

According to the ambassador, a third reason for ‘feeling at home’, particularly for new investors from Japan, could be the already-existing favorable and strong economic link between Japan and Hungary.

The link certainly gives a firm sense of reassurance to those Japanese companies which are currently considering new investments in Hungary. The recent promotion for FDI in such areas as food industry, ICT sector, medical sector and environment, could lead to further development in collaboration as Japanese companies are active in these areas.”

DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM

photo by

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Wine and food In 2017, Japan was the guest of honor at the National Agriculture and Food Exhibition (OMÉK) in Budapest, as it is known to be the importer of various quality products from Hungary. For instance, Japan is the second largest Hungarian wine importer in Asia.

Listing the most popular Hungarian food products in Japan, Ambassador Sato mentions that “goose liver, Tokaj wine and honey made in Hungary are traditionally popular, while Pick salami and Mangalitsa pork joined the group lately. The reason for the popularity is the quality of the products. As to wine, since I arrived, I have come across many excellent Hungarian wines. When Japanese visitors come, I make it a rule to introduce these wines to them.” w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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On the occasion of the 150th anniversary, she would like to offer more opportunities for Hungarians to appreciate Japanese products, such as Japanese ‘Wagyu’ beef, marine and seasoning products, and the traditional alcoholic drink ‘sake’. “One should admit that some of these products are for ‘acquired tastes’ that develop only after repeated experiences.”

Tourism From time to time, the necessity of a direct (charter) flight between the two countries is raised to boost tourism. In 2017, approximately 66,000 Japanese tourists visited Hungary, which is ranked as the country with the fourth largest tourism destination in Central and Eastern Europe after Austria, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

“In addition to the attractive World Heritage sites in Hungary, there are other touristic resources here such as cuisine, music, and spa culture. I believe that there is a high potential for a larger number of tourists visiting Hungary,” she points out. The ambassador says that the number of Hungarian tourists travelling to Japan is still low – at 8,000 people per annum – “but I’m happy to note that their interest in Japanese cuisine, culture and other aspects of life is increasing. The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020, and Osaka Kansai EXPO in 2025 would be a good vehicle to promote tourism and other interactions between two countries.”

Hungary well known Japanese people are said to have a fairly good knowledge of Hungary and the Hungarians. As to what she thinks makes them so interested in this country and culture, Ambassador Sato highlights that “one might be surprised by the depth of knowledge some Japanese may have in the academia or in the business world. But for many Japanese, Hungary, above all, is a country of composers Ferenc Liszt, Zoltán Kodály or Béla Bartók. The beautiful porcelain of Herend is also widely known in Japan. In Sumo wrestling, a national sport of Japan, Herend’s porcelain is used as the trophy called the ‘Japan-Hungary friendship Cup’. Hungary is also known for its ten gold medals in the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, and as a nation of Nobel prize winners.”

She concludes by saying that beyond the Hungarian goose liver and salami, what remains in the heart of the Japanese is the splendid view of Budapest along the Danube, "the pearl of the Danube."

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japan focus

ADVOCATE OF JAPANESE PRESENCE LAW PROFESSOR AND FORMER MINISTER ACTIVE IN ATTRACTING JAPANESE BUSINESS TO HUNGARY

For JEFTA In July this year, the EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement (JEFTA) was signed. János Martonyi was always a great advocate for this agreement.

As to what this agreement means for Hungary, he points out that “right from the beginning, it was clear that a free trade agreement between the European Union and Japan would be in Hungary’s interest. We had some very careful studies that concluded this was a basic Hungarian interest.

We were interested in the more free imports of Japanese goods to Hungary because, for instance, the growing automobile industry needed the spare parts, etc. Another thing was that we were interested in better conditions for the exports of Hungarian goods, primarily agricultural products to the huge Japanese market, which was – especially for agriculture –, anything but free. The Japanese are protecting, in a way understandably, their agriculture for a number of reasons. So, we had – as we call it in trade policy – basic national interests both on the offensive side and on the defensive side. We were ready to receive more Japanese industrial products. Because of the supply chains, we could also improve the situation of Japanese companies present in Hungary in their exports to other EU countries as the European Union is also a huge market. So, I think the economic interests were clear. Additionally, like in case of all free trade agreements, there is a kind of political element, as well. It was also there because we had a very close friendship. As we now say, we had basic underlying cultural and geo-political interests. Now, the negotiations, to my greatest satisfaction, have been concluded after a fairly long negotiating process.”

He is of the view that in the present trade policy environment worldwide, the importance of the EU Japanese free trade agreement cannot be overestimated. “Since the multilateral trading system was established, this contract between the EU and Japan is the most important regional trade agreement because it covers almost one-third of the world's GDP. In the present international environment when everybody's talking about trade wars, introducing tariffs and referring to very strange arguments like national security, this EU-Japan free trade agreement is the best thing that could happen.”

It will be three years in January 2019 that international trade law expert and former foreign minister, Dr. János Martonyi received, at the Japanese Embassy in Budapest, the ‘Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan’ award, which is the highest state distinction given to foreign nationals by Japan.

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Private and public activities recognized Officially, János Martonyi was given this high distinction by the Government of Japan in recognition of his outstanding achievements over the years in the development of political and economic relations between Japan and Hungary.

“I visited Japan many times – first perhaps in 1989, to discuss the newly adopted company law in the course of Hungary’s economic and political transformation. A little bit later, when I was state secretary in the Antall government, I accompanied the prime minister to Japan.

Then, when I became foreign minister, I visited Japan a couple of times as the two countries already had very good relations,” he highlights.

One point he advocated very strongly in the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union was that a mandate should be given to the European Commission to start negotiations with Japan on a free trade agreement. “Some people in the Union – and also some member states in the Council – were of the view that there should be preconditions to be met by the Japanese in order for the negotiations to start. Of course, Hungary was one of the member

states, which pushed very strongly for ‘let's start it and then we'll see in the course of the negotiation what we can achieve and what we cannot achieve’.

That is the normal game, especially in trade policy: you give and you get and there is always a tough negotiation process. So, that was also perhaps part of the story for the award. Also, whether I was in government or in private business, I tried to strongly promote Japanese investments in Hungary. One of the main clients of the Baker McKenzie law firm was, and still is, Magyar Suzuki. It is still by far the largest Japanese investment in Hungary.

I was in the law firm when the whole idea of the investment started and later, we successfully represented the company in a European court case. That was also the time when this law firm developed a fairly strong client base, the Japan Desk. All in all, it was a combination of my public activities and also the lawyer’s work that contributed to the awarding of this decoration.”

Back to international trade law Nowadays, János Martonyi says he is “very much involved in international trade policy and trade regulations, reading about and writing on this subject. Last year, I was the chair of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), a UN body for the clarification of international trade or commercial law. As much as I can, I try to be involved in the area of my original profession, which is primarily international trade law but also, I am interested in everything that is going on in Europe. I have a full working day and my problem is that I cannot follow everything, although, I am better informed now than when I was a minister. That is because I have more time to read, I have perhaps more time to think. So, all in all, I am O.K.!”

RELIABLE PEOPLE

“The Japanese are very reliable people but you also have to be reliable with them. Then, they count on you – that is important, and if you have that type of chemistry, you can work together with them very well!

That is my personal experience.”

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ceremony, possibly with my wife. Here, all those were present who contributed, in one way or another, to this distinction awarded to me.”

photo by DÁVID

János Martonyi recalls to Diplomacy&Trade that “we had a wonderful reception at the Embassy with many friends and colleagues attending, even the Hungarian Prime Minister was there. I am still sometimes criticized by some friends and family that I made a big mistake by not accepting the invitation to go to Tokyo and receive this distinction from the emperor himself, as had been offered.”

He adds that “incidentally, just a couple of days ago, my wife was reading something in a journal and again, she said ‘you made a terrible mistake not going to Japan to see the emperor and receive the award personally from him’. What she was reading was that the Emperor of Japan is, indeed, according to ancient beliefs, of divine descent and ‘you missed the opportunity to meet him personally’.

Actually it was due to some complications and difficulties that I was not able to go to Tokyo at that time. Afterwards, it came to my mind that this very friendly reception, with all these people around me – friends from the law firm Baker McKenzie, colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from the highest level of the government – perhaps, it was more memorable. I If I had gone to Tokyo, I would have been basically the only person at the

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ENGINE BLOCK TURBOCHARGER TRANSMISSION*

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*Suzuki provides 3+7 years of warranty altogether for its Hungarian-manufactured car models - new Vitara and SX4 S-Cross - regarding the following components: engine block, turbocharger, manual and automatic transmission. Thus, in addition to the 3-year general warranty relating to all other parts of the car another 7 years of warranty are provided to cover these key elements. General warranty is valid for 3 years (or 100,000 km), with the complementary BoosterJet Pro warranty programme (engine block, turbocharger, manual and automatic transmission) it is valid for +7 years (or 200,000 km).

Suzuki Vitara – Fuel consumption during various usages depending on equipment and motorization: 4,8 - 7,5 l/100 km, CO₂ emissions during various usages based on the NEDC standard: 121-143 g/km, in case of the WLTC standard: 139-179 g/km. All pictures shown are for illustration only. We reserve the right to carry out modifications without previous notice. For further details visit suzuki.hu. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m D I P L O M A C Y T R A D E F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5

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JAPAN TRADE PROMOTION OFFICE IS A KEEN SUPPORTER OF BILATERAL BUSINESS Three-fold task JETRO’s Budapest office has a three-fold task: (1) promoting Hungarian investment to Japan; (2) promoting the export of Japanese goods to Hungary; and (3) supporting Japanese business activities in Hungary. The General Director points out that “each of these tasks has an equal share in the activities of the Budapest office.”

As a recent example, he mentions the visit of a delegation promoting the traditional Japanese drink, sake. The representatives of ten sake breweries came here for business matching with Hungarian restaurants, sommeliers, bartenders and distributors. “We expect that Japanese food items and beverages are going to be popular on the Hungarian market. I think this can already be gradually seen in the interest of Hungarian consumers year by year. Obviously, upper class and middle class consumers are the ones to try Japanese specialties. Japanese alcoholic drinks like sake, whisky and other spirits are now becoming popular in Hungary and other parts of Europe. We have also supported Hungarian companies going to Japan to exhibitions, in the spring and in the autumn.”

The National Agriculture and Food Exhibition and Fair (OMÉK) is the largest agricultural event in

Hungary, with a history of more than 100 years. At the 78th fair, in the autumn of 2017, Japan was a partner country, and JETRO, in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan in Hungary, set up a Japanese pavilion – for the first time at such event in the Central and Eastern Europe region. According to Masahide Honda, OMÉK was a great opportunity to promote Japanese food and agricultural products for the Central and Eastern Europe region and build relationships with local gastro stakeholders.

Among items JETRO focuses on in the promotion of Japanese export goods, the main product group is Japanese food. “It is a tough business but several products have possibilities on the Hungarian market. One problem is the date of expiry of the products. Given the geographical distance between Japan and Hungary, the Hungarian buyers (distributors, shop owners, etc.) want to see products with long shelf life.

The Japanese side understands that this could be a problem at the other end of the world,” he stresses.

National information gathering Although, JETRO’s Hungarian office is located in Budapest, its activities also include holding seminars in the countryside. According to the General Director, “selecting the venues and the topics discussed at these events depends on our partners. In some cases, we are invited by the local mayor or the business promotion division of the local government, while in other cases, for example, we work together with the National Association of Entrepreneurs (VOSZ). At such meetings, we introduce ourselves, explaining what JETRO is and what the Japanese business environment is like – or what is it going to be like in the future. We also wish to understand and learn about the local business opportunities so that we can have the opportunity to match them with similar Japanese companies who are looking for certain business opportunities and/or locations. We like to see for ourselves what kind of opportunities Hungary has and gather information that we can summarize and provide to possible Japanese partners. We wish to continue to visit different locations in the countryside in the future, as well.”

‘Talk to JETRO First’ We are expecting the Japan EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to enter into force early next year. It will make bilateral D E C E M B E R

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JETRO’s Budapest office was established in 1991. As its General Director, Masahide Honda explains to Diplomacy and Trade, the greatest achievement over this more than two and a half decades has been that “we have been able to significantly contribute to business exchanges between the two countries. In the 1990s, our main task was supporting the activities of Japanese companies in Hungary as at that time, there were so many firms looking for the opportunity to operate factories and trading businesses in the countries of East Central Europe.”

He adds that in that period, not many Hungarian companies were interested in the Japanese market or in Asia, in general. There were a few exceptions, though. “For instance, in the 1990s, we supported Hungarian wineries to access the Japanese market.

Later, in the past decade or so, more and more Hungarian companies with value-added products became interested in the Japanese market as well as those in China, Korea, Singapore, etc. One of our tasks now is to support Hungarian companies who are looking for investment and business opportunities in Japan and we very much appreciate the Hungarian government’s efforts to work together in this field.”

TALK TO JETRO FIRST!

photo by DÁVID

The Japan External Trade Organization ( JETRO) was established by the Japanese government in 1958 as the principal organization for implementing and promoting trade between Japan and foreign countries. Headquartered in Tokyo and Osaka, JETRO has 47 local off ices in Japan and 74 overseas off ices in 54 countries, one of them in Hungary.

business even stronger and smoother.

“If you want to invest in Japan, please contact JETRO. We are open to everyone who is looking for opportunities on the Japanese market, but this call is also true for the enquiries of Japanese companies because we are a government-related organization, and therefore, we continue to be open to Japanese companies, as well, in this respect,” the General Director points out.

Regarding the volume of Hungarian business presence in Japan, the General Director says “it is still not very big, I'm afraid. Among the main areas Hungarian companies are interested in investing in – and/or trading with – Japan, I would like to mention pork. Although its exports were suspended due to African swine fever recently, Hungarian pork, especially that of the mangalica type, is becoming more and more popular in Japan. Another sector with a possibility to expand exports from Hungary to Japan is that of wine but areas like biotech and that of the ICT also hold out the prospect of expansion.”

He highlights that the main Hungarian partners JETRO works with are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry of Technology and Innovation as well as the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), The Association of Hungarian Automotive Component Manufacturers (MAJOSZ), Association of the Hungarian Automotive Industry (MAGE), the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) and the ICT Association of Hungary (IVSZ).

“I would also like to mention that we are looking for cooperation in the field of factory automation between Hungarian and Japanese firms. The reason is that in Europe, especially in Germany, there are companies fairly advanced in the field of Industry 4.0, which has now expanded to all industrial sectors.

Currently, work shortage is a growing problem and certain business sectors are lacking in workforce. So, one solution is introducing Japanese technologies that can do the job with less people needed,” he adds.

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THE HUNGARY-JAPAN DISCUSSION FORUM ECONOMIC CLUB MEMBERS SHARE ‘OFF-LINE’ INFORMATION

The Hungary-Japan Economic Club (MJGK) was founded in 1971 to assist those interested in economic co-operation between Hungary and Japan and in the improvement of those relations with information, events, and contracts between companies and individuals. It is a nonprofit and non-political organization.

ANTECEDENTS

The history of the Club’s predecessors is closely intertwined with that of Hungarian-Japanese diplomatic and economic relations that date back a long time but were broken several times. “One interesting period was between the two world wars when civilians managed these relations,” Sándor Kiss stresses. The collaboration of civilians was necessary since neither of the two countries had justifiable economic interest to mutually maintain embassies. “During this period, the Japanese dealt with Hungarian issues from Vienna while Hungarian affairs in Japan were handled by the Spanish Embassy in Tokyo as their head of mission was Don José Caro y Széchényi, a man of Hungarian noble descent just after the Great War.” In Hungary, it was the Hungarian Nippon Society that became the engine of bilateral economic relations between 1922 and 1943. It was established by former Hungarian prisoners of war who had been held as prisoners from the army of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in prison camps in southeastern Siberia following World War I. The control of those camps was later taken over by the Japanese expedition army whose leaders developed a mutual respect with the Hungarian prisoners. One of the main sponsors of the Hungarian Nippon Society was Baron Takaharu Mitsui of the Mitsui concern from 1935.

Between the two world wars, commodities transported from Hungary to Japan included pharmaceutical products, the then world class machinery and electric products, photo paper, steel shapes, special leather and even caoutchouc plates of military grade, while Hungary mainly imported copper, rice, paper and silk, says Sándor Kiss who is a researcher of this period.

Although, the Hungarian Embassy in Tokyo was only reopened in 1959, commercial relations started to develop from 1954-55. In the first transactions, Hungary imported copper from Japan and bartered it with rice from Egypt and Burma, respectively in 1954. After the 1956 revolution, a major deal – production machinery imports for the Hungarian lamp factory Tungsram – helped re-launch bilateral trade and business relations. The first ever Japanese-Hungarian joint venture, Polifoam Co., Ltd. was set up by Hungária Műanyagfeldolgozó Vállalat (later Pannonplast), Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. and Itochu in 1984.

All these are just a few excerpts from the history of Hungarian-Japanese relations. Sándor Kiss has written an entire book on this topic. Entitled ‘Japán vonzásában’ (‘In Allurement of Japan); the publication is the result of twenty-five years of research work. It is not a dissertation, but a description of personal stories, which also gives a political and cultural background.

After the political changes of 198990 in Hungary, civil organizations were allowed to be set up, and the Hungary-Japan Economic Club was re-established in this new form. Until 1991, the Club operated within the framework of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, and then, according to new regulations, it was transformed into a social organization with legal entity.

The President says the number of club members jumped from 20 to 40-45 around 1990 and remained there for the intensive period of about five years that included the arrival of Suzuki and other Japanese companies.

Now, the Club has twelve members, one third of them are Japanese companies present in Hungary and the rest are Hungarians, including law firms who act as advisors to Japanese companies. There are also Hungarian suppliers to Japanese entities who are members. “Due to the presence of law firms in the Club, we have a bit deeper insight into the nature of certain cases than what is published in the press

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– of course, without violating any confidentiality,” he adds.

The Hungary-Japan Economic Club has general meetings 4-5 times a year and smaller meetings on specific topics about as many times. “Club members – including myself – travel to Japan regularly, bringing back useful information to share with other members,” the MJGK President notes.

Sándor Kiss has a special relationship with the current Hungarian

ambassador to Japan, Dr. Norbert Palanovics. “When he was preparing his diploma thesis in Nagoya, I happened to be one of his consultants in the 1990s and we have been good friends ever since.”

Growing Japanese presence The President points out that if a Japanese investor arrives here, that usually means new technology.

“We no longer live in times when D E C E M B E R

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‘Off-line’ information Sándor Kiss, who has been the President of MJGK since 2003, stresses that Club members are interested in learning about the processes and issues of HungarianJapanese economic relations, especially what is going to happen in the near future: possible new investments, visits to Hungary by high-level delegations – in other words, getting to know things that are usually not available on the Internet.

“Every year, we invite the Japanese Ambassador in Budapest and the Tokyo-based Hungarian Ambassador and inquire about these kinds of things – sometimes even sensitive pieces of information.

He adds that the Hungary-Japan Economic Club does not have the power to convince Japanese companies to come and invest in this country “but it happens once in a while that we are approached by companies that do not disclose what partner they would be talking to but ask for advice like whether, for example, they should take a gift to the meeting with their Hungarian business partner, if yes, what gift, what to say, how to say, etc.

– in other words, asking for a ‘homemade recipe’ that we try to prepare, tailored to the needs of that particular firm.”

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Re-established in 1991

production was relocated here from Western Europe for wage level, taxation, etc. Japanese firms in this country manufacture top products for the world market.” He lists companies like the tire manufacturer Bridgestone that continuously develops its presence in Tatabánya. JSR and the Hungarian oil and gas firm MOL opened their synthetic rubber plant in Tiszaújváros in March this year, while Zoltek is producing, with a substantial investment in Nyergesújfalu, synthetic carbon-fiber for which demand is increasing worldwide as more and more wind turbines are put into operation and more and more cars are produced with carbon-fiber chassis instead of metal ones. GS Yuasa, one of the best-known battery manufacturers in Japan is to open a plant in Miskolc, NE Hungary next year to produce lithium batteries for portable devices.

Sándor Kiss highlights that when discussing current issues with Japanese companies, it is labor issues, like the increasing labor shortage, that come up most of the time. Here, a special characteristic is that Japanese companies prefer to train their employees themselves and, at the same time, they maintain a good relationship with Hungarian educational institutions.

photos by DÁVID

The President of the Club, Sándor Kiss is a former economic diplomat who has been involved in bilateral relations for over three decades since he was appointed as Trade Secretary in 1982, and Commercial Counselor in 1992, respectively at the Hungarian Embassy in Tokyo. He tells Diplomacy&Trade that “the practice that the Club is asked to provide information on investment opportunities in Hungary or Japan has practically ceased to exist. We are now in a ‘practical situation’ whereby present issues and investments – and those of the near future – are the most interesting for our members because those are what can produce business opportunities for them.”

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s

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Car shown is a CR-V 1.5 VTEC TURBO Executive in premium crystal red metallic – Economy & Emissions figures, CR-V range: (WLTP) High-Low 6.4-11.8 (l/100km), CO2 166-201 (g/km); (NEDC) 5.6-8.6 (l/100km), 143-162 g/km. Figures, sourced from EU regulated laboratory test results, are provided for comparison purposes and may not reflect real-life driving experiences. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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Book 1.indb 17 J416530_CR-V PETROL_HU_Adapt_280 x 360mm_ENG_v1.indd 1

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japan focus

THE INFORMATION PLATFORM SHOKOKAI HUNGARY SUPPORTS JAPANESE RELATED COMPANIES AND THEIR ACTIVITIES

Hungary, due to higher cost to recruit labor. This is true not only for Japanese companies. “Let me mention the example of LEAR, an international wire harness firm that used to be my company’s neighbor in the Mór Industrial Park until the factory was closed earlier this year and moved to Moldova. However, they are not alone, we are also reducing our production in Hungary and moving some of it to other countries,” Ted Watanabe stresses.

Important honorary members

In conversation with Diplomacy&Trade, the current Chairman of Shokokai Hungary, Tetsuaki ‘Ted’ Watanabe (the Managing Director of the Sumitomo Electric Automotive Group Company SEWS Hungary Ltd.) quotes the precise number of membership as 47 companies, plus two that have submitted application. These member companies have registered approximately 250 employees who are eligible to participate at

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important points of discussion for the past 3-5 years.”

He adds that when he arrived in Hungary at the end of 2012, “the rate of unemployment in the country was, I believe, around 7% and this figure is now below four. This situation has developed in the past 2-3 years. This 4% is quite a significant figure – basically, it means that we have no free labor on the market. In many countries when this ratio goes below 5% it means there is nobody available and below 4% the situation is quite serious.”

At Skokokai meetings, members have been discussing that labor shortage may be the reason why they downscale their operations in

Softball and continuity Shokokai members attend and support different events, including cultural and educational programs. There is a successful softball tournament organized every year. (It is mainly for Japanese, but it is possible for people of other nationalities to participate. In the past, there was a Hungarian team attending and non-Japanese people who work for Shokokai member companies joined the event.) The latest tournament took place on a Sunday this September at the American International School of Budapest with the participation of 12 teams (250 people). It was won by the Magyar Suzuki B team, followed by the Alpine, Ibiden and Sumitomo Group teams.

“We don't have any special plans for change for the future, we will just continue this activity in the current way and whoever wants to join and complies with be membership regulations is welcome. We continue to support Japanese related companies and their activities,” Tetsuaki ‘Ted’ Watanabe concludes.

Labor matters Labor is the hottest topic nowadays, the Chairman explains. “Tax related issues are also discussed as well as immigration possibilities like visa regulations because the Hungarian government keeps changing the regulations on taxes and immigration. We share the pieces of information at these meetings but again, let me emphasize, labor issues have been the most D E C E M B E R

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Exchanging information

Shokokai events; membership fee depends on how many people are registered by the given company. “Basically, all member companies should register all their Japanese expats,” he points out.

The organization’s main objective is to exchange information that can be useful for the management of the Japanese companies present in Hungary.

Shokokai has a regular meeting every two months with all members eligible to participate (but a maximum of two people per company can attend a monthly meeting); a steering committee meeting also every second month with eleven officials, including the chairman, the vice presidents, an auditor and the secretary.

Within the organization, there are three subsectionsdealing with (1) labor, (2) tax system and accounting as well as (3) economics and proposing policies, and hosting seminars on these subjects.

At Shokokai meetings, the official language is Japanese.

photos by DÁVID

In the late 1970s, a Shosha society developed in Hungary and created a commerce and industry association.

In the following decade, lots of Japanese manufacturing companies came into Hungary and the ‘Hungarian Japanese Operator Organization’ was established. In 2001, the ‘Magyarországi Japánok Szervezete’ (Organization of Japanese People in Hungary) was officially incorporated, within which and a Commerce and Industry division was formed. This is the historical background to the ‘Magyarországi Japán Vállalkozók Egyesülete’ (Association of Japanese Enterprises in Hungary - MJVE), which was established in 2012 as the successor to that Commerce and Industry division. MJVE – better known by its Japanese name ‘Shokokai’ (which suggests ‘chamber of commerce’) – is a notfor-profit organization with the participation of about 50 Japanese companies in Hungary . A few member companies are in other European countries.

He adds that Shokokai has good relations with the Japanese Embassy in Budapest, which is an honorary member of the organization, helping members with advice on immigration regulations, visa issues, etc.

The Embassy is also an important bridge between Shokokai and the Hungarian government.

Shokokai has many times formulated requests towards the government to which the letters were sent through the Japanese Embassy in Budapest.

These requests – prepared by the Chairman – usually concern tax issues or the length of paid holiday in Hungary. If we ask the government to reconsider, modify or change the regulations, we officially make petitions or submit opinions in conjunction with the Embassy.

Shokokai does not deal with companies that are not in Hungary, yet, only would like to establish operations here. However, as Ted Watanabe says, “because of our relationship with companies, it happens sometimes that Japanese firms exploring opportunities in Hungary and investigating the possibility of setting up a factory in this country contact Shokokai members in advance. Officially, there is no support within our organization for such investigation. If we receive such a request, we pass it on to another important honorary member of ours, the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO) since it is their job to deal with such a matter.

JETRO is also one of the permanent board members in Shokokai.”

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12/5/18 3:57 PM

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japan focus BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

TAKENAKA CREATES IDEAL COMMUNITIES AND CITIES THROUGH INNOVATIVE ARCHITECTURE “We create architecture that responds both to the needs of the age and to the expectations of our clients – and this, we believe, is an asset to society as a whole, as well as an enduring symbol of the culture.” These words by Toichi Takenaka, Chairman & CEO of Takenaka Corporation, one of the largest architecture, engineering, and construction f irms in Japan, well describe the philosophy behind the efforts that have materialized in the form of historic buildings and religious architecture, commercial facilities, schools, off ice buildings, museums, theme parks, residential areas, plants and research laboratories, hotels, hospitals, etc. over the past more than a hundred years.

Takenaka in Europe…

Takenaka’s European operation was established 45 years ago in Düsseldorf, Germany as a European subsidiary of Takenaka Corporation and has since completed over 1500 projects across European countries including those of Central and Eastern Europe, ranging from commercial and industrial to institutional and residential works. The total organization

in Europe consists of over 550 employees.

“Over the years, Takenaka’s global turnover amounted to USD 11 billion, approximately 10% of Hungary’s gross domestic product”, Hideki Kitaori, General Manager of Takenaka Europe GmbH, Hungary Branch said in Japan Times this fall.

Takenaka has achieved a strong reputation for having an ability to adapt to European environments and proceed with clients in a spirit of localization.

Through teamwork, a thorough understanding of the process and a ‘right first-time’ attitude, TAKENAKA EUROPE offers clients quality, efficiency and the assurance that their projects will be completed satisfactorily to the specified standards, within the budget and on time.

production space solutions to meet any client's needs, while harmonizing with the requirements of building and construction: process technology, logistics technology, information technology and environmental technology.

Building ‘green’ Takenaka Europe’s green policy aims to contribute to the sustainable development of society by reducing costs, creating healthy work conditions, increasing energy-efficiency and improving the corporate image of clients as companies that visibly commit to the environment achieve recognition for their social responsibility.

According to the company, characteristics of the 'green buildings' Takenaka creates include energy-efficient design and technologies that help to cut down energy consumption throughout the entire lifetime of buildings; the use of nontoxic materials, allowing natural light and fresh air and implementing a friendly workplace that provide a healthy work atmosphere; a contribution to the environment by reduced CO2 emissions, the application of ecological materials, and better use of resources that are all beneficial for the environment.

Takenaka is recognized in Hungary for delivering quality management-systems, specialized design and engineering services. The company has received several awards and certifications including General Electric’s Global International Standard Certificate.

Today, the company is moving into the construction of research and development centers, office buildings and residential spaces while expanding its maintenance, property management and engineering consultancy services.

As Hideki Kitaori pointed out, “we have a responsibility to employ and develop the country’s architects and engineers. We are fully committed to growing our business and to contributing to society by passing on the best work to future generations in Hungary.”

…and in Hungary Next year the company celebrated its 25th anniversary in Hungary, and at that time, it has consistently ranked as one of the top ten general contracting companies in the country.

A source of great pride, the company’s first project in Hungary was the construction of the Embassy of Japan in Budapest. Since then, more than 80 projects, with a combined area in excess of 900,000 square meters, have been completed by the company in Hungary, many of them for the subsidiaries of Japanese companies taking a foothold or expanding in this country.

“We create environmentally-sound, safe, innovative and people-friendly structures while focusing on quality, cost and timely delivery”, the General Manager added.

Building quality with expertise The basic approach to the company's quality assurance activity is to provide the quality of a product that can be ordered with ease of mind by the client, and which will provide ease of mind, satisfaction, and pride to the client from the planning stage to a long period after construction is completed.

Takenaka’s specialists bring their rich experience, know-how and knowledge of advanced technology into full play in four fields to provide optimum

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perspective of Takenaka Corporation – and this is why we continue to act dynamically to contribute to the creation of ideal communities and cities through our innovative architecture.”

photos by

Takenaka Corporation is probably the oldest company in the world. It was established by the shrine and temple carpenter Tobei Masataka Takenaka in 1610.

As Toichi Takenaka points out, “in recent years, global environmental concerns and social issues have led to some uncertainty surrounding the future, which has created an ever-growing movement towards building a sustainable society.

As a result, building standards have become increasingly sophisticated and diversified. We therefore believe in the concept of creating environmentally-conscious, safe, comfortable and people-friendly architecture. This is the

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12/5/18 3:57 PM

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The precondition for the enforceability of the Infiniti Premium Hybrid Warranty is that the customer lets the prescribed and/or recommended maintenance works perform in an authorized service after the car starts its fifth year of operation (or after 160,000 kilometers driven – whichever happens sooner). Regarding the Infiniti Premium Hybrid Warranty, you can receive more detailed information in the Infiniti Showroom or in the authorized service. The data and facts presented in the current advertisements are only given for information, they do not represent a contractual offer. The car with optional equipments shown in the picture is just an illustration. Please, contact our colleagues for further details and offers. Depending on the model and traffic conditions, combined fuel consumption varies between 4.3-6.5 l/100 km, average carbon dioxide emission varies between 114-151 g/km. The indicated values were measured in accordance with the measurement methods set out in the text of the Regulation (EC) No. 715/2007 currently in force. The fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emission of a vehicle do not only depend on the fuel efficiency of the car, but also on the driving style and other, non-technical factors.

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12/6/18 11:18 AM

japan focus

The development of products of the highest quality, exceptional design and advanced technology are the focus of Honda’s corporate philosophy.

THE POWER OF DREAMS HONDA IS COMMITTED TO PRODUCING SAFE, RELIABLE AND EFFICIENT VEHICLES

In 2014, Honda’ European headquarters decided to establish Honda Central Europe, which responsible for four countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. The main back-office function to satisfy the countries requirements is in Austria while there are also front office and field colleagues working in each country to visit and support the dealer network.

Each market is very different and has its own characteristic. The Austrian car market is the biggest and also the most mature among the four countries with very conscious customers. The other three car markets are still in a development phase with lots of opportunities ahead of them, but in general, their customer purchase power

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The most popular models There are several popular Honda models in Hungary for different reasons. The Honda Jazz offers class leading interior space, unbelievable variability and practicality, which gives real support in the everyday life of the customers besides many standard safety features. The all new Honda CR-V – one of the world’s most popular SUV model – was launched on the Hungarian market just two months ago. As a first step towards the Honda electric vision, this model is also offered with hybrid drivetrain.

The new CR-V is sporty and luxurious, has been reimagined from the ground up, totally redesigned inside and out, and has a 7-seat option. The 5-and 4-door Civic is the sportiest Civic ever. It comes with turbocharged power, sleek new styling, and a class leading spacious interior. The company also sells Honda motorcycles on the Hungarian market, which has not fully recovered since the world financial crisis.

On the Hungarian motorcycle market, Honda is a leader with 24% market share due to its excellent Scooter line-up and, of course, bigger motorcycle models like the Africa Twin, NC750 series, X-ADV and the flagship model, the brand new Gold Wing.

Innovative features

company officials highlight their DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) system, which is unique on the market and gives joy to customers. The DCT system is offered on products like X-ADV, NC750 series, Africa Twin and Gold Wing, as well.

At Honda, innovative technology has always been a trademark, showcasing pioneering engine and chassis design that has set the standard for excellence for more than 60 years.

The founder, Soichiro Honda always stayed true to his desire to do things differently while never missing an opportunity to improve his products. There are several innovative features among current models, as well. The Honda Jazz with Honda’s Magic Seats proves that small cars do not have to be cramped and impractical – clever packaging and neat interior features ensure that it offers MPV-like practicality with good efficiency. Honda works hard to make sure its vehicles are safe for drivers, passengers, and others on the road.

Its vehicles have a combination of active and passive safety equipment to assist drivers in lowering the risk of a collision or the severity of an unavoidable crash. The Honda Sensing includes innovative safety features available on all Honda models.

Just in case one does not know: Honda is the world's largest manufacturer of engines. Last year, the company produced and marketed more than 27 million units globally for a diverse array of automotive, motorcycle, marine and power equipment products. All of Honda’s powertrains are modern, clean, based on the latest technological developments and are built with high quality materials and purpose-made components, which ensure reliable long-term use. Honda is well aware of its responsibility for the impact on the environment of its corporate activities and its products and is committed to minimizing that impact. Honda offers products that meet the world's most stringent environmental regulations. As for motorcycles, D E C E M B E R

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Novelties In February 2019, Honda will launch the all new Honda CR-V Hybrid, making this model available with a hybrid drivetrain for the first time. It arrives with a fresh new look, too – muscular wheel arches and sharp contours from front to back. The new CR-V Hybrid system combines real-world efficiency with an effortless drive. The world’s favorite SUV has the design hallmarks that made it such a success in the first place: a distinctive presence on the outside and premium quality on the inside. Now, there is a new hybrid drivetrain available, equipped with an i-MMD two-motor system. It combines petrol power and the instant response of an electrical motor. Smooth, efficient and beautifully quiet.

Honda’s commitment to electrification doesn’t stop with the innovative development of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Battery electric drives will also play a part in the introduction of a comprehensive range of zero-emission vehicles in the coming years. The Honda Urban EV Concept will be the brand’s first massproduction electric vehicle sold in Europe; it is a big step forward, with order books opening from early 2019. The company’s commitment is clear: Honda will produce hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel cell cars to make up two thirds of European sales by 2025.

In terms of motorcycles Honda’s mid-range line-up will be completely new in 2019 with models like CB650R, CBR650R, CB500F, CB500X and CBR500R.

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Honda Central Europe

is still significantly behind that of Austria. Also, there is big difference among the four countries in terms of customer preference and expectations.

In Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the German and other local car manufacturers have historically very strong influence and representation in customer car purchase preference. However, in Hungary, there is no such dominancy visible and Hungarian customers equally prefer to buy Japanese cars to others and accept the products of the advanced and sporty Honda brand very well, too.

photos by

Honda believes in ‘The Power of Dreams’.

However, believing is not enough. As the founder of the company, Soichiro Honda once said, “action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless.”

The question is how the Japanese vehicle manufacturer brings this idea to life. The answer: “We couldn’t wait for the future - so we’re building it now. At Honda, The Power of Dreams drives us to create intelligent products that enhance mobility and increase the joy in people’s lives.”

The company continues to draw inspiration from the visionary ideas of its founder. He saw incredible power in the freedom of mobility and used his imagination to change the world. It is this mindset that guides the manufacturer to help move people forward and protect the future those in the company all share. “We strive to earn the trust and support of the many diverse communities we happily serve, and we’ll always remember who’s in the driver’s seat on the way to a better world for all.”

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japan focus Positive influence

The company has its own sustainability framework, publishing an annual report on achievements in this field. “Our sustainability model assumes that we wish to positively influence socially or environmentally all processes around us. Our annual sustainability report has four main elements: (1) the human being is at the center of all our efforts; (2) we have responsible communication commitments; (3) our efforts in the field of energy management and (4) environmental protection. When talking about people, we talk how to retain our workers, how to improve their working environment and how to raise people's interest in the Dreher brewery. Of course, we have in use all the usual possibilities, for example, the cafeteria system, but every year, we try to extend our thinking to new areas. For example, last year, we introduced a private insurance policy for our employees that covers the twenty most commonly occurring chronic illnesses among Hungarians. Our efforts to create a positive image include, for example, a job fair organized in an unusual environment, a brasserie where our colleagues present the brewery, with the help of interactive games, to the interested people,” the General Manager says.

CSR

INNOVATION FOR GROWTH

that is made with the addition of intense hops – this is also a new product this year. Through these, we try to bring to consumers what kando means in the Japanese world. Basically, we build the future by bringing together what Antal Dreher left behind and what the Asahi Group regards as important in terms of quality.”

HUNGARIAN TRADITIONS AND JAPANESE DRIVE FOR QUALITY AT DREHER BREWERIES

photo by

TAMÁS VARGA

The acquisition of the Hungarian brewery company Dreher by Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings was completed on April 1, 2017. The Japanese owner is proud to have a brewery in Hungary with 165 years of historical background. The General Manager of Dreher Breweries Gábor Békefi explains to Diplomacy&Trade what has – and has not – changed at the company since then.

“With this change of ownership, we see a new approach to some of the conceptual issues and philosophies. One is the ‘kando’ feeling, a Japanese expression, one that inspires the heart, the soul – an extraordinary feeling that is surprising for the consumer. It is a new approach for us, as well. Let's surprise the consumer, let's bring something unexpected and create a flavor experience that surprises the consumer when drinking that beer. This is what penetrates the entire brewery culture within Asahi. There is another distinct philosophy that is commonly seen on a daily basis in our activities – that is the ‘kaizen’, the idea that everything can be improved and everything has to be improved at every moment of life. This is not just the case in production but it also applies to the internal processes of marketing. We see that, with the Japanese owner taking over, this is definitely reflected in the company's inner life as a continuous development. Another important w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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idea is the sustainability philosophy: how can we operate the world so that we can give back to the next generation what we get from nature. This is also an important feature in Japanese culture,” the General Manager highlights.

New taste experience He adds that “consumers basically feel that we bring a new taste experience to the Hungarian market and offer them new ideas from Asahi's international product range. One good example is the introduction – a couple of months ago – of Asahi Super Dry, the Japanese holdings’ flagship beer (and the most popular in Japan) developed to accompany all kinds of meals, and we also brought in Peroni beer from Italy as well as Meantime craft beer from England. These are all taste experiences that were not present on the Hungarian market before. However, at the same time, one should not forget about the great innovation idea associated with the Dreher brand: the first top fermented beer

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Hungarian beer market As Gábor Békefi points out, the domestic beer market increased around 2% in 2017, “and I think that we will have about the same growth at the end of 2018, as well. It is equally welcome that the beer market not only grows, but also changes in structure. Hungarian consumers are increasingly open to experiencing new tastes and interested in more and more innovative ideas, while beers are going through a very dynamic development; our hops products have seen growth for the third year now. The third element is that every manufacturer has started to introduce premium and super premium products because consumers are beginning to realize that if they spend money on beer, they should get a good taste. In the light of this, we see that the upper segments of the market experience dynamic growth with people able and willing to pay more for these products, the middle being about the same as before while the lower segment is slowly decreasing.” He stresses that innovation is a very important part of growth. “We see that innovative, new ideas are responsible for almost 20% of revenue growth, which shows that along with traditional brands and traditional tastes, consumers are hungry for new flavors and are willing to taste them.

This gives us the backbone along which we want to take part in the market in the years to come.”

As regards the various aspects of the company’s corporate social responsibility policy, he stresses that in energy management, they organize separate projects each year to reduce their energy use. Gábor Békefi says that “last year, we used 400,000 kilowatt hours less power, which corresponds to the annual energy consumption of nearly 200 families, and managed to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 5.7%.

A brewery produces biogas. We have been absorbing and recycling this biogas for years, thus reducing our use of natural gas. According to our calculations, the saving is equivalent to the natural gas consumption of 55 family houses. The fourth part of the company’s CSR incorporates our actions for a more livable world. The best way to grasp this is how much water is used to produce a liter of beer as finished product. We are an industry that uses water intensively. We have been cutting the figure for years and now, we need 2.99 liters of water to make one liter of beer.

This includes everything: washing of redeemable bottles, the cleaning and maintenance of machines, etc. Of course, the quality of the water is also compliant with the regulations and not putting extra burden on the sewage system.”

More relief for the environment Dreher has innovative ideas for the next summer, as well, to surprise consumers and competitors in the beer season of 2019. “We will continue to invest in making the Dreher brewery plant more modern with investments that are environmentally important, for example, replacing our climate compressor station with one that is more efficient and less polluting. We want to speed up some of our technological processes, such as our beer filter. The latter investment is expected in the second half of next year.

Every consumer encounters the brewery fridge in the shops when buying beer in the summer.

We also continuously update this machine fleet and replace it with energy-efficient appliances.

These are all part of the philosophy to expose the environment to the smallest burden possible,” the General Manager concludes.

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japan focus

A MARKET LEADER FROM ESZTERGOM SUZUKI IMPLEMENTS MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN ITS HUNGARIAN FACTORY

Magyar Suzuki Corporation (MSC) was founded by its majority owner, Suzuki Motor Corporation in 1991.

With its factory in Esztergom, NW of Budapest, the Hungarian affiliate is one of the leading companies in the country, with a significant contribution to the national economy. Being a key player of the European automotive industry and the Hungarian economy, the company provides jobs for over 10,000 people, including its employees, suppliers and dealerships.

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Innovation-focused projects Heading towards smart production, Magyar Suzuki implements new long-term development program. As the head of a consortium, Magyar Suzuki Corporation has launched a new multiannual research & development program sponsored by the European Regional Development Fund. The project aims to develop the R&D&I cooperation between universities, research facilities and the company’s suppliers to cultivate new scientific results, market-ready products, services and technologies with higher added value, and to build their first prototypes. The project’s overall budget of HUF 5.308 billion has two sources: a self-funded portion of HUF 2.712 billion and another HUF 2.596 billion granted by the EU-funded Széchenyi 2020 program.

Magyar Suzuki Corporation is implementing a large-scale manufacturing development program through a series of innovation-focused projects.

These development projects, implemented in the Esztergom factory, include the networking of welding robots, modernizing the factory’s logistics system, preparing for the adoption of the latest laser welding technology, and developing new, cost-effective polymers with excellent technical characteristics for motor vehicle production. As a result of these developments, the company will be able to produce more advanced, more competitive and safer Suzuki prototypes by 2020.

Suzuki offers a range of innovative technologies in its models such as the addition of hybrid drive to turbocharged petrol engines or the AllGrip all-wheel drive system, as well as Suzuki’s own-developed BoosterJet turbocharged engine introduced in 2017.

Available for the Vitara Sport, the S X4 S-Cross and the Swift models, the BoosterJet utilizes energy in the most effective way thanks to direct fuel injection.

In addition to the dynamic driving experience, the turbocharged engine also offers lower CO2 emission and fuel consumption.

The already ongoing project takes Magyar Suzuki Corporation’s previous development program to a new level. During its self-funded HUF 2.8 billion factory modernization program concluded in 2016, Magyar Suzuki Corporation implemented largescale automation and robotization developments.

A very visible result of this program is the fact that today 770 robots work in the Esztergom factory, covering the entire production process.

To further support the goals of modernization, Magyar Suzuki Corporation continues to move forward on the path leading to smart production by leveraging the power of the consortium’s joint research and development efforts. The 4-year research & development project entitled ‘Building and maintaining an innovative network for Magyar Suzuki Corporation, suppliers and research facilities to develop safe, green and proven car prototypes and cost-effective mass production technologies’ is carried out under the Széchenyi 2020 program.

Market leader According to the latest figures (new vehicle sales in January-October, 2018), Suzuki has increased its share on the Hungarian passenger car market from 13.22% to 14.18% compared to the corresponding period in the previous year, continuing the growth trend as the 2016 data was 11.42%. Suzuki is a market leader in this country with its highly successful Vitara being the best-selling model, and the S X4 S-Cross, which also represents the SUV style, being mainly responsible for the outstanding results Available from the beginning of 2017, the Vitara Limited became a new milestone for Magyar Suzuki: the company’s flagship model, equipped with special extras, has given further boost to Suzuki’s compact crossovers.

Among the hugely anticipated new models, the latest generations of the Ignis and the Swift debuted in 2017, with the new Swift Sport being introduced in 2018. These three models are manufactured in Suzuki’s Japanese factories. The three new small cars are part of the Group’s “SUZUKI NEXT 100” MidTerm Management Plan, which aims to introduce at least one new model a year.

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Magyar Suzuki Corporation has increased its Hungarian fleet sales nearly three-fold in the past five years with Vitara and the SX4 S-Cross accounting for 86% of the company’s fleet sales in 2017.

In addition to excellent total cost of ownership ratio and innovative technologies, a nationwide service network makes Suzuki fleet operations even more reliable and streamlined. The Vitara is also perfectly suited for driving outside the city; no wonder that it was the model chosen by multiple Hungarian national park managements. The Hungarian National Police Headquarters and the Hungarian Defense Forces have also significantly increased their vehicle park with Suzuki models.

MSC is especially proud that the German company E.ON also chose to place their trust in Japanese cars: their vehicle fleet now has 60 Vitaras. The National Directorate General for Disaster Management purchased 32 of the most popular Suzuki model, while in June 2018, the National Tax and Customs Administration will introduce Vitaras in their own vehicle park as well. Other authorities and organizations opting for a fleet of Suzuki cars include the Hungarian National Railways, the Hungarian Food Chain Security Department, K&H Bank, and the Nationwide Civil Self-Defense Organizations of Hungary.

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implementing robotization. On its way to become a ‘smart factory’, Magyar Suzuki will introduce additional intelligent manufacturing processes in collaboration with its partners by 2020. Thanks to the HUF 5.3 billion modernization project supported

by EU sources, new, competitive, safe and tested Suzuki prototypes will be manufactured in the Esztergom plant.

As a result of the continuous developments, Magyar Suzuki is ready to manufacture its products at a higher technical level, more economically, more safely and in an even more environmentally friendly way, further strengthening its leading position in the domestic market and the international automotive industry.

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In addition to the domestic market, the company exports its products to 128 countries. The Vitara and SX4 S-Cross models produced in Hungary roam the roads of Japan and other countries of Asia, South America, Oceania and even Africa.

Magyar Suzuki’s sales revenues exceeded EUR 2 billion at the end of its business year closed in December 2017. 176,705 passenger cars rolled off the production lines of the factory, where the 3 millionth Suzuki was produced in April 2017.

The quality and reliability of these over 3 million cars produced in Esztergom guarantee that the company belongs to the great players of the Hungarian vehicle production sector. The outstanding results are based on Japanese technology and efficient manufacturing processes; the success is achieved by the staff, whose high professional skills and commitment are strengthened with continuous development.

The Esztergom factory has played a key role in innovative manufacturing technologies since the beginning of its activities. Following the HUF 2.8 billion factory modernization program, finished in 2016, the company is now in the forefront of

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12/6/18 10:54 AM

japan focus that Japanese companies engage in litigation because they first try to settle the dispute with their business partner. We also do corporate work, tax advisory services and real estate work for them and we assist them in anything that comes up in connection with their business operations. As for GDPR, it is a new European regulation on data protection that is not easy for Japanese companies to understand because they have a different regime in their country. In fact, when the Japan-EU Free Trade Agreement enters into force, it will change certain issues in GDPR matters, as well.”

Tailor-made practical solutions

Baker McKenzie is one of the leading international law f irms in Hungary with a signif icant Japanese clientele.

Managing Partner Dr. Zoltán Hegymegi-Barakonyi and Dr. Éva Ganzenmüller-Nagy of the law f irm’s Japan Desk tell Diplomacy&Trade about services provided for Japanese businesses.

UNDERSTANDING THE CULTURE OF THE CLIENTS

photo by DEBOMIT

CHAKRABORTY

BAKER MCKENZIE’S JAPAN DESK SERVES CLIENTS FROM THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN As Dr. Zoltán Hegymegi-Barakonyi recalls, Baker McKenzie was the very first Western legal service provider to establish an office behind the Iron Curtain. “That happened in 1987 in the Hungarian capital. The firm was already here when the political changes happened, when the new market economy was introduced, and – most importantly – when privatization started, which brought the first big wave of business to the firm.

As opposed to some other firms, many of whom decided to leave after the privatization wave ended, Baker McKenzie – just like in other jurisdictions – became a full-service law firm, not only focusing on transactions but everything that our clients, including foreign investors and domestic companies required. And we grew: now, we have 40 lawyers on our team, covering all areas of business law, which include more than a dozen areas and focus on a wide range of industries.”

Japan Desk Dr. Éva Ganzenmüller-Nagy highlights that “the Japan Desk at Baker McKenzie was started by Professor Dr. János Martonyi. He was the one w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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who started working for Magyar Suzuki and he began to actively engage the firm in serving Japanese clients. He did a lot to attract Japanese companies into Hungary, not only as a Managing Partner of Baker McKenzie at that time, but later also as a Minister of Foreign Affairs. Together with Prof. Dr. Martonyi, Zoltán worked with the Japanese clients regularly. I joined a little later, in 2004, helping the firm’s efforts to attract Japanese clients and to advise those who were already here in Hungary. We advise the largest Japanese clients in all their business matters in Hungary and we also help them find their way in the labyrinth of frequently changing Hungarian laws. We frequently hold presentations for them, to inform them about the latest developments in the laws; we provide consultation opportunities for them; and we cooperate very well with organizations like JETRO, the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese business community here.”

Dr. Hegymegi-Barakonyi adds that “we have had Japanese clients for a long time, but the Japan Desk was really formed after Éva joined us.

She came to work for us after graduation from law school in Hungary and in Japan. So, she is a Japanese and Hungarian lawyer. We hired

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her because we felt the need, from a cultural perspective, to have someone who was able to speak the Japanese language and understand the thinking of Japanese clients and businesses.

It proved to be a good idea because it helped us immensely to establish a better relationship with Japanese clients. Later on, Éva also worked in our Tokyo office for one and a half years and she still maintains a very good relationship with that office. We have a Japanese language publication, updated annually, on the Hungarian legal environment for Japanese businesses active on the Hungarian market. Éva visits Japan regularly, including on occasions like the trip of the Hungarian prime minister there, to give – in Japanese – information at investment forums about the legal environment in our country.”

Wide variety of services As regards the nature of legal issues which arise, Dr. Éva Ganzenmüller-Nagy stresses that, with Japanese clients, labor law is a typical issue.

“Therefore, we often hold presentations for them on this matter. We help Japanese clients in litigation, as well, although, it is quite rare

She adds that Baker McKenzie provides its clients with practical advice. “It means that we not only tell them what the law says but we advise them what the practical solutions are. There may be some solutions with certain risks, which they have to consider. Therefore, we always listen carefully to what the client wants, and try to provide the specific advice that helps the client to achieve their business objectives.”

Dr. Hegymegi-Barakonyi points out that the firm’s philosophy is that legal advice should be driven by the client’s needs. “For that, you have to have a good understanding of the client’s business and the given industry. That is why we have industry focuses in order to develop knowledge on the main issues of the various industries, such as automotive, energy, information technologies and life sciences. Once we have this kind of expertise on the given industry, and we have a close relationship with the client, then we can give more than just abstract legal advice. First, we need to understand what the client’s situation is, and then, when the specific legal issue arises, we try to give advice that focuses on the solution.

Of course, as Éva says, you have to make the client understand what the risks are if they do this or do that. It is easy to tell them what the law says but one also needs to explain how to apply that law. Innovation is also important in today’s legal advice. Take GDPR, for instance, where there is an application developed by Baker McKenzie that tells what to do when there is a data breach incident.

Also, we have a very user-friendly application for companies being dawn-raided by competition, tax or criminal authorities. We are following the philosophy that, if a need arises on the part of the client for a particular issue, we look into how we can develop some technology to bring about a solution, addressing that particular challenge.”

Put in context Dr. Ganzenmüller-Nagy adds that often one has to explain Hungarian and European rules and regulations by comparing them to the Japanese system to make the client understand the differences. “For example, in Japan, employee classification may be different than in Hungary.

Consequences will be different depending on how the employee is classified. Therefore, if people are aware that in Japan, they have specific rules or schemes, then it may be easier to advise and provide them with clearer and more tailor-made advice. Therefore, the Japanese clients can put what we are talking about into their context.”

Both lawyers agree that it is often a challenge to bridge language and cultural differences when it comes to legal advice where any misunderstanding could have serious consequences. “That is why the help of our Japan Desk is essential in our work for Japanese clients,” Dr. Hegymegi-Barakonyi concludes.

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japan focus

The foundation of the new RAV4’s dynamic qualities is its all-new TNGA platform. This gives the car the core strengths of a low center gravity, light weight and a strong, rigid and balanced chassis that delivers exceptional handling, stability and driver rewards.

For the customer, this makes the car more fun to drive, while at the same time enabling great design inside and out, enhanced safety performance that gives greater peace of mind and greater comfort for everyone on board.

The TNGA platform underpins the ‘confident and natural’

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The TNGA platform was of great benefit to Toyota’s designers in their mission to give the new RAV4 a strong SUV character and styling that sets it apart from other models in its segment. The fact that TNGA introduces so many standardized parts “under the skin” simplifies the development process, giving the designers more time and scope to create an all-new look, inside and out. The exterior lines and detailing in the cabin are influenced by regular, polygonal shapes, communicating strength and coherence.

The powerful design combines with the unique new self-charging hybrid powertrain to give the new RAV4 the stand-out qualities required to attract customers in

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Toyota new global architecture platform

Concept and design

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In 1994, Toyota’s launch of the original RAV4 introduced a new kind of car to the world, one that combined the go-anywhere performance and rugged stance of an SUV with compact dimensions and handling more akin to a hatchback.

TOYOTA

NEW RAV4 HYBRID

driving quality Toyota has sought for the new model: ‘confident’ in not reacting adversely to disturbances and communicating a sense of stability, and ‘natural’ in its intuitive, natural response to the driver’s inputs.

Beyond the benefits of the chassis itself, further detailed measures make important contributions to its overall quality, with Toyota’s top engineers leading the development of the new RAV4’s dynamic performance, fine-tuning its handling and drivability.

Response from the Electric Power Steering has been improved by moving the assist motor from the column to the rack. The result is more linear increase in steering input torque and less strain on the steering shaft, which communicates a better, more direct feel to the driver as the steering loads up and gives more faithful line tracing through corners. Summer-specification tires are used in place of the all-weather type, further adding to the precise driving quality and achieving top-class braking distances.

The RAV4’s TNGA platform also distinguishes itself in its use of a double wishbone rear suspension system.

Thanks to the low center of gravity and high body rigidity, the suspension does not have to be rendered stiffer to meet dynamic targets. Nonetheless, precise adjustments have been made to the rear suspension to focus on better ride comfort, including a more upright setting for the shock absorbers and optimization of the locating point for the trailing arms.

Handling is thus agile, faithful and neutral, giving the driver confidence with accurate responses to the driver’s use of the steering wheel and throttle pedal and optimized shift patterns.

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ALL SUV - ALL HYBRID FROM TOYOTA

The same pioneering spirit is witnessed in the all-new fifth generation RAV4, which made its first European appearance at the Paris Motor Show. This is a model which takes the SUV into a new era of performance, capability and safety – advances that are underpinned by the first use of a TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) platform in an SUV and a powerful new design.

With its low center of gravity and significantly increased body rigidity, the new RAV4’s GA-K platform directly contributes to superior handling, ride comfort, a spacious interior, class-leading load space and the freedom to produce a strong, eye-catching design with lower roof and hood lines and higher ground clearance. As well as providing more space and comfort, the cabin displays exceptional quality and finish throughout.

The new RAV4 remains unique in its class in offering customers a self-charging hybrid powertrain – the choice of an overwhelming majority of customers in Western Europe (85% in 2018). The new 2.5 liter, 222 DIN hp TNGA hybrid powertrain will strengthen customer appeal, delivering step-changes in power, responsiveness and efficiency, with best-in-class fuel economy and emissions levels.

At the same time, all-wheel drive systems have been comprehensively improved to achieve a ‘drive on any road’ capability. The new RAV4 Hybrid’s electric AWD system has been re-engineered and enhanced to provide a much stronger performance in challenging conditions and secure handling on slippery surfaces.

The new RAV4 is also the first Toyota to benefit from additional Toyota Safety Sense features that extend the use of advanced technologies to help prevent accidents and provide greater driver assistance, including systems that introduce a degree of automated driving.

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TOYOTA

TOYOTA

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japan focus

a highly competitive marketplace, in particular conquest sales to people new to the model and the Toyota brand.

Key elements in generating this impact include raising the ground clearance (+15 mm), using large diameter wheels and making the car suitable for multiple types of use.

The exterior look is powerful and individual, with a solid form that extends from the front of the vehicle along the sides to the rear, giving the sense of a strong mass and authentic SUV capabilities. At the front, the emphasis is on width and strength with extra volume added to the lower bumper section, and there is a similar effect at the rear where the horizontal line created by the tail lights and back window angles sharply downwards at each edge, drawing the eye towards the rear wheels and expressing the ‘polygon’ influence on the design.

The cabin is characterized by high sensory quality throughout and precision execution. Soft-touch surfaces abound, including the dashboard and door panels.

Consistent patterns, textures, colors and ambient lighting are applied, with symmetrical shapes and use of the polygon motif seen in the Toyota FT-AC concept model.

Switchgear is new, too, with cleanly integrated buttons and pleasingly tactile controls, such as the button/dial to adjust the air conditioning.

The low-set instrument panel – a further benefit of the TNGA platform – has powerful horizontal lines that flow into the door panels, emphasizing the cabin’s generous width and giving the driver a clearer view of the road ahead. A larger, open center console between the front seats is in keeping with a welcoming, functional SUV interior. Special attention was paid to providing plenty of useful and easily accessible storage for the driver and front passenger.

The new RAV4 Hybrid is equipped with a significantly enhanced and more capable electric AWD system that comes with no penalties: it returns better fuel economy in urban driving, quieter performance at high speeds and better traction in slippery conditions. It is also more compact and lighter in weight than mechanical AWD systems, so fuel consumption and vehicle packaging are not compromised The system efficiently generates drive torque using power from the hybrid vehicle system and an additional motor generator on the rear axle. This design reduces energy losses, saves weight and optimizes AWD operation in different driving conditions. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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japan focus

JAPANESE WELCOME FOR HUNGARIAN ATHLETES

HUNGARIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE VISITS TO JAPAN PRIOR TO THE 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES

Hungarians welcome in Tochigi The representatives of the Hungarian Olympic Committee and the Japanese side first met in November 2011 at the institutional level.

As one of the first steps of co-operation, in October 2014, a Hungarian delegation from Olympics traveled to Japan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

In November 2016, a HOC delegation traveled to the Tochigi Prefecture, which is less than a hundred kilometers from Tokyo, to prepare the cooperation agreement.

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Under the trilateral framework agreement, Hungarian athletes can travel to training camps in the region before the Olympic Games in 2020, use the benefits of a number of worldclass sports facilities and training partners, as well as get acquainted with sports technology and the Olympic venues and the Japanese environment. The HOC can connect to a strong Olympic and sports system there. During the cooperation, the HOC carries out co-ordination and professional supervision in the Olympic preparations, while the Hungarian federations of the different sports can maintain their professional autonomy.

This cooperation was confirmed when a delegation from the Tochigi Prefecture, led by Governor Tomikazu Fukuda, visited Budapest in November 2017. Presenting the infrastructural facilities for training opportunities in different sports in the region, Tomikazu Fukuda recalled that the Hungarian athletics team had already used the facilities of the training camp in 2015 before the World Athletics Championships in Beijing. The Governor also highlighted the geographic, cultural and climatic conditions of the region.

He talked about the ‘Inner City’ program, which means that settlements, administrative units and prefectures in Japan have offered training opportunities to many countries around the world. So far, 179 Japanese cities have indicated their willingness to take part in the program and 90 agreements have been concluded with 74 countries.

The Hungarian House is a project that is not exclusively about sports. The 150th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Japan and Hungary in 2019 will be an excellent theme for presentation. “Even without that, we have a number of ideas for enhancing the image of the country. The Hungarian House, which was a successful project at the Rio Olympics already, presenting our country to the local audience, could serve as a venue for sports diplomacy, for trade talks, and for making friends in an amicable environment. We also plan to present Hungarian innovations there and the venue should also be suitable for highlighting Hungarian gastronomy, for instance. We received tremendous help from the Hungarian Ambassador, Dr. Norbert Palanovics, and his team, who made every effort to successfully complete the dense program planned for three days in hot and humid Tokyo," Bálint Vékássy told HOC’s website after the trip.

Now, he says that “Tokyo seems to be a much more difficult venue, than was Rio, to set up a Hungarian House, the possibilities are limited, the city is much more densely populated and the prices are exorbitant – so, it is not certain, yet that there will be a Hungarian House there or not. Therefore, we don’t even know whether it is going to be a tent, a restaurant or a big boat. Even if we find a suitable venue, the final say on this project will be by the Hungarian government, in order to cover the expenses.”

At the end of this November, search for a possible venue continued by a Hungarian delegation that attended the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees, which convened in Tokyo in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Summer visit According to the rules, the local Olympic organizing committee must hold open days.

This summer, the Olympic committees of 18 countries, among them the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, were hosted by the Japanese Organizing Committee.

“Fortunately, the open day we were invited to was held at the same time of the year that the actual Olympic Games took place. We were very much interested in the weather conditions as we had heard about cases of extreme weather with heat and humidity in previous years. We also looked at some of the competition sites,” Vékássy says.

The Hungarian delegation, led by Krisztián Kulcsár, President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC), gathered a lot of useful information, including the fact that the construction of the Olympic Village is scheduled to be completed by January 2020, but the competition venues will only be available for training purposes from July 14, as the village only opens its doors at that time. The opening times of satellite villages (bicycle, sailing) are still to be decided.

During all three days of the visit, there were intense negotiations to find a site for the Hungarian House to be set up in Tokyo for the duration of the Olympic Games. In this regard, several potential places were looked at by Krisztián Kulcsár, Bálint Vékássy, Sports Director László Fábián, and Andrea Tóth, who was also the Project Director of the Hungarian House at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

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As the General Secretary of the Hungarian Olympic committee, Bálint Vékássy explains to Diplomacy&Trade, “in the summer of 2017, the Tokyo 2020 local organizing committee opened its gates to the world and welcomed delegations from the different countries. We were not able to attend at that time but the Japanese gave us another date in October 2017. It was then that an agreement was signed with the Japanese Olympic Committee and the Tochigi Prefecture that the latter will host Hungarian athletes in training camps free of charge. It means that all we have to pay for are the air tickets; the local costs of these training camps will be paid for by the Japanese in terms of local travel, accommodation, meals and facilities. Due to the special climatic conditions, we will encourage Hungarian athletes to take these training opportunities to get acquainted with the circumstances and prepare for the Games with full force.”

Hungarian House

‘In return’, the Governor asked the nations to establish the best personal, human relationship possible and get to know each other's culture.

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The General Assembly of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC) will make a formal decision this December on the country’s participation at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020. However, HOC delegations have already made several visits and contacts to explore opportunities that await Hungarian athletes before and during the Olympic Games.

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japan focus retaining workforce. Two years ago, we launched the ’Bridgestone Employee Career Program’, which enables our colleagues to increase their earnings by 40% over 3 years, in line with their personal progress and development, and also offers them a more flexible and family friendly working schedule.

The introduction of this scheme has proved to be very successful. We are continuously improving the working conditions of our colleagues. As part of our most recent HUF 9.2 billion investment, for example, we built a new training center for our expanding team.”

‘Our Way to Serve’

STATE-OF-THE-ART TIRES FROM TATABÁNYA BRIDGESTONE IS COMMITTED TO CONTINUOUSLY WORKING TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

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BRIDGESTONE

The Bridgestone factory in Tatabánya, west of Budapest, celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. The President of Bridgestone EMEA and CEO of Bridgestone Tatabánya, Melinda Topolcsik tells Diplomacy&Trade about the achievements of the company over this past decade and Bridgestone’s growing operations in Hungary.

The CEO says that even though the company is still a ‘teenager’, it is hard to summarize a decade of achievements and results in a few sentences. “However, we are really proud to have two, very unique production technologies operating in our Tatabánya plant.

Ten years ago, we started tire production with Bridgestone Corporation’s first, fully automated production technology called BIRD (Bridgestone Innovative and Rational Development). When extending our factory, Bridgestone again deployed a world class, artificial intelligence-based digital technology to our plant, called EXAMATION. She adds that they are also proud of the speed of the company’s growth. “Over this decade, we managed to triple the size of our plant and team and we are about to quadruple our production volume. Today, we operate in a 144,000 sqm factory, employ more than 1,200 people and our production will reach 7.2 million tires per year by 2021. Last but not least, we are proud to offer a wide range of high quality tires w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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out of Tatabánya, including DriveGuard, Turanza and Potenza tires from the Bridgestone brand and Roadhawk, Winterhawk and Destination tires from the Firestone brand.”

Well-positioned Regarding the necessity for Bridgestone to inaugurate a new manufacturing unit in Tatabánya just a year ago, Melinda Topolcsik highlights that the reason was the increasing demand for the premium, state-of-the-art tires manufactured by Bridgestone Tatabánya. “According to the forecast of the Federal Reserve and the UN, by 2030, the number of passenger cars will increase to 2.4 billion globally. Bridgestone Tatabánya, with its excellent logistical capabilities, highly expertised team and digital production technologies, is well positioned to serve this growth.”

She points out that Bridgestone’s Hungarian factory is “one of the key production centers of ultra-high performance passenger car and SUV tires, which

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we produce in over 230 sizes locally. Bridgestone Tatabánya benefits from the well-developed infrastructure, the highly skilled labor force and the proximity to large international car makers being present in Hungary. On the other hand, our company largely contributes to the dynamic economic growth of the country with its continuous investments and high export volumes, given that 99% of the tires manufactured by Bridgestone Tatabánya Manufacturing Ltd. are exported.

She adds that Bridgestone is an active member of the Hungarian Tire Association, which has just elected Szabolcs Hunyadi, Bridgestone’s Sales Manager of Consumer Products as its acting Chairman. “Through the Association, we also pursue our main objectives, including establishing a closer and more intense cooperation between members of the Hungarian automotive industry, while we are also actively engaged in explaining the role of tires in road safety to members of the society.”

Employee career program When talking to Japanese – although, not only Japanese – companies, a general problem that comes up in the conversation is for employers to find and retain workforce. However, the CEO notes that “Bridgestone Tatabánya is a popular place to work and despite the shortage of labor in our region, we do not face difficulties in attracting and

Bridgestone in Hungary is very active in the field of corporate social responsibility, providing support in healthcare, sports, etc. Regarding the company’s strategy in this respect, the CEO stresses that “Bridgestone, was formed with the mission of ‘serving society with superior quality’. Our global CSR strategy, the ‘Our Way to Serve’ program, reflects Bridgestone’s environmental commitment and provides a framework for how we do business, develop products, and interact with customers and communities. Besides providing support to these areas, the program also aims to encourage and motivate our colleagues to perform outstanding quality work while supporting society and protecting the environment at the same time.”

For instance, Bridgestone supports the Danube-Ipoly National Park in the northern part of the country. “It is a HUF 2 million donation to the Duna-Ipoly National Park that we have just recently announced. The park will use this support to build a bird observation tower for nature photographers and to implement a habitat management program of ground squirrels in Neszmély, where experts establish a monitoring system for observing these endangered species. Apart from this, we supplied 28 special tires to be fitted on the park’s seven off-road cars,” she adds.

For a sustainable society Tires manufactured by Bridgestone are made to provide efficiency comfort and sustainability. The latter also shows the importance of environmental protection for the company.

“Bridgestone is committed to continuously work toward a sustainable society. Our ambitious Environment mission statement focuses on three key areas which are (1) contributing to biodiversity, (2) improving natural resource conservation and (3) reducing CO2 emissions – all of which are key areas for us towards ensuring sustainability of our products and operations. Our long term vision is to achieve – at the global level – that our tires are 100% produced from sustainable materials.

Also, we are committed to reduce emissions from manufacturing and tire usage, in which respect we aim to improve the rolling resistance of tires, thus contributing to emission reduction of road traffic,” the CEO emphasizes.

Regarding plans and expectations for the next few years, Melinda Topolcsik highlights that Bridgestone has two main objectives for the coming years. “The first is to complete the deployment of our state-of-the-art digital production technology in the Tatabánya plant and train our people to use it in order to increase production to 7.2 million tires within the next few years. The second most important objective is to ensure that we become OEM, that is, original equipment suppliers of leading car makers in Hungary and the region.”

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japan focus

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Tokyo 2020: “the most innovative Games in history” Analysts note that the Games are expected to add further momentum to the boom in Japanese inbound tourism. The government and the mayor of Tokyo have taken several initiatives to improve the foreign tourist experience, such as greater D E C E M B E R

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The Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 are attracting a lot of attention worldwide. One and a half years away: in the summer of 2020, the world’s greatest sporting spectacle, the Summer Olympic Games will once again be held in Tokyo. The Japanese government projects it will welcome 40 million visitors to the country in that year.

Hungarian athletes need to fit into a certain number of quotas to qualify for the Games, there are a lot of training camps waiting for them. Last but not least, they need to take care of getting to Japan once they gain the status of ‘Olympic athlete’.

Over the course of many years, JTB has supported the Olympic and Paralympic Movements; at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games JTB provided services

for accommodation and transportation. Since then, utilizing its network, the company has provided safe and secure travel services to many customers at other Olympic and Paralympic Games, assisting athletes and spectators alike, most recently at the London 2012 Games and Sochi 2014 Winter Games, where travel arrangements were made for Japan’s national Olympic and Paralympic teams and a range of tours provided for supporters.

As early as in 2016, JTB Corp. concluded a Tokyo 2020 Sponsorship Program agreement with the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to become a Tokyo 2020 Official Travel Services Partner. All JTB employees will devote themselves to welcoming many honored customers to Japan from around the world, ensuring that everyone experiences the attractions of each region and samples the Japanese spirit of hospitality. Their slogan, ‘Perfect moments, always’ putting these three words into practice at the Olympic Games, which are a source of inspiration for so many people. JTB aims to contribute to the success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and create endless ‘perfect moments’ that endure beyond 2020.

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Tokyo 2020 and JTB

JTB Hungary, the Hungarian ‘arm’ of JTB Corporation, the largest travel agency in Japan and one of the largest travel management companies in the world, has about 12,000 travelers a year and an annual sales income of around HUF two billion (close to EUR 6.5 mn). The next big attraction to see in Japan is the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, but there is also a wide selection of sports events (Rugby World Cup, World Women’s Handball Championship etc.), incentive trips and other types of corporate travel on offer.

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JTB Hungary considers it a mission to introduce Japan to as many people as possible, so personal relationships with passengers, in addition to creative and flexible planning are very important for them. JTB also provides accommodation, transportation and a wide-range of services for the many global-scale mega sports events that will be held in the months and years ahead in Japan. Furthermore, the company organizes incentive trips, as well, not only for its present clients, but for anyone who would like to have such a trip to Japan – be it technical visit, classical incentive trip or any thematic tour, JTB Hungary General Manager, Karolina Simon says.

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THE PLEASURE OF TRAVEL BY HUNGARY’S JAPAN SPECIALIST

JAPAN: OLYMPICS AND MORE

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japan focus • Japan inspires new ideas that cultivate business innovation and the country is world-renowned as a safe destination with unique culture and customs; • Japanese hospitality sets a whole new standard.

Visitors will notice that the spirit of omotenashi (or selfless hospitality) is everywhere – not only at comfortable hotels and traditional inns and in punctual trains and quality services but creates an overall welcoming environment; • Japanese culture can provide hints to improve teamwork. In addition to traditional festivals, Japanese culture offers an abundance of tried and tested team building techniques.

• since ancient times, Japanese culture has emphasized harmonious existence within nature. Visitors can immerse themselves in Japan's diverse natural landscapes and rich natural environment.

Hungarian companies also value the far Eastern country as a destination for incentive trips because it offers several special program opportunities such as factory visits; participation in sports events as an athlete or as a spectator; training camps; Japanese language schools; home-stay programs with local Japanese families; special cultural events and festivals; adventure and team building programs and thematic tours like gastronomy, architecture, robotics and car manufacturing.

Incentive travel with JTB Hungary's secure background The firm is the Hungarian subsidiary of the 106-year-old Japanese JTB Group, among the top five travel management companies in the world with more than 27,000 employees around the globe. Incentive travel requires a particularly strong financial background, which is guaranteed

by JTB Hungary.

Japanese quality

JTB Hungary is working with a number of companies of global scale whose high expectations regarding organizational precision are often unusual in the Hungarian market.

Thanks to its roots and background in Japan, JTB Hungary is permeated by the philosophy of pursuit of perfection.

Customer focus

Skills JTB Hungary has been organizing incentive travels not only to Japan, but to all over the world, for decades. However, their expertise and local knowledge has proved that they are the No. 1 incentive travel specialist when it comes to organizing any special events in Japan. Its staff are the best in the tourism industry who have encountered almost every kind of request in their work. In their hands, the clients’ ideas change into a perfect program!

Creativity

JTB Hungary staff organize all the details according to the wishes and personal ideas of the customer – be it travel or event oriented. In case continuous on-site assistance is necessary, the expert staff will personally ensure that everything runs smoothly, as planned. In every moment of incentive travel, it is the customer who is in the focus!

Favorable pricing It is obvious that the best program and roadmap is worth nothing if it is beyond the financial reach for the customer. When planning offers, JTB Hungary pays attention to the cost, keeping in mind the buyer's budget. From the first steps of the preparation to the last moment of the event, they are there to help the clients invest their money into satisfying their guests.

The JTB Hungary team is constantly monitoring new trends and exciting possibilities of tourism so that corporate entities can delight their customers with ever-memorable, unusual programs. There is no impossible request; they always find the way to meet the customer's needs, be it factory visits, special interest program for architects, cultural experiences, like tea ceremony, temple stay or geisha dance – the JTB philosophy says: everything is possible.

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wireless internet access, an upgraded transport network, more English signs, and regional revitalization to draw more tourists to new destinations. The goal is to increase the number of foreign visitors from 28.7 million in 2017 to 40 million by 2020, and 60 million by 2030.

Infrastructural projects are also well under way. One of the most spectacular projects promises to be the Shinagawa New Station complex that will connect the sea and the hill of Tokyo. It is just one of many major urban developments – from hotels and sports complexes to cloud-piercing skyscrapers – poised to transform the vista of Tokyo by the time the city raises the curtain for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Masa Takaya, spokesperson for Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee, says "Tokyo 2020 is on track to deliver the most innovative Games in history" as the committee has already "observed top-tier corporate sponsors investing in innovation towards 2020." Examples of what may appear during the Games are the latest fuel cell vehicles, self-driving cars, cyber security initiatives as well as automatic multilingual translation.

Japan as a top incentive destination Of course, there is plenty to see and do in Japan outside the Olympic Games, as well. There are several factors that make ‘The Land of the Rising Sun’ the perfect location for a conference or incentive trip. The country offers a very wide range of attractions, from historical and cultural treasures to modern and futuristic sights and beautiful forests, mountains and sea coasts. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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business

HUNGARIAN HOPS HELP DISADVANTAGED FAMILIES

Value creation "Kastélyosdombó equals value creation. The Hungarian government has the priority to strengthen the competitiveness of agriculture. We would like to create the opportunity for Hungary's long tradition of hops production to become an integral part of Hungarian agriculture again," István Nagy emphasized at the event. Anikó Lévai stressed, in her speech, that she was very proud of this program because “it is a model that offers families a permanent stable solution for income and gives them a chance for self-esteem."

The President-CEO of the Hungarian Interchurch Aid pointed out that the objectives of his organization and those of HEINEKEN Hungária complement each other in this program. "In a disadvantaged region of Hungary, we provide knowledge and opportunity to the families, so, we can help them in a sustainable way – and not just once. There are very few job opportunities here, but agriculture can provide a solid background for the lives of families. Our goal is to spread the model as widely as possible, and as a result, we can contribute to the individual livelihood of more families. Thank you for the exemplary commitment of HEINEKEN Hungária!"

HOPS PRODUCTION IN HUNGARY RESTARTS AFTER MORE THAN TWO DECADES

After more than twenty years, hops production is back in Hungary. In the near future, Soproni beer will once again be made from home-made hops. The Hungarian Interchurch Aid and HEINEKEN Hungária are implementing a model in Kastélyosdombó (SW Hungary), which will be commercially sustainable in the long run, and will also contribute to the livelihood of disadvantaged families involved in the cultivation of hops.

With the planting of 2,500 hops, the production of the most important flavoring agent of beer gets a new beginning in Hungary. The large-scale production of a plant with a long history in Hungary’ enables Hungarian beer brewing to rely on the products of Hungarian farmers. Hungarian agriculture can strengthen its regional positions in a new sector that is sustainable on the long term. HEINEKEN Hungária has sponsored the program with financial support of HUF 30 million (close to EUR 100.000) and to buy the produced hops at market prices.

Relying on Hungarian produce

After more than one year of preparation, the first hops were planted this November. During preparation, participants in the program were trained in plant cultivation skills, nursing requirements, and special techniques for breeding hops from seedlings to brewing raw material. Subsequently, the special columns for cultivation were installed at the Social and Development Center of the Interchurch Aid. The first day of planting was attended by dr.

István Nagy, Minister of Agriculture, Anikó Lévai, Goodwill Ambassador of the Hungarian Interchurch Aid; László Lehel, President of that organization and Geert Swaanenburg, Chief Executive Officer of HEINEKEN Hungária.

"We at Heineken consider local products and local resources all over the world to have special value. Thanks to the partnership of the Hungarian Interchurch Aid, we are proud to be able to act together and bring Hungary back to the group of hops-producing countries. Our aim is to rely 100% on Hungarian hops in the production of Soproni beer – as is the case with barley. All this fits well with HEINEKEN Hungária's strategy; our aim is to get as many domestic raw materials into our products as possible," the Chief Executive Officer of HEINEKEN Hungária, Geert Swaanenburg said.

Hungary's favorite beer, Soproni has been made from 100% Hungarian barley since 2016, providing livelihood for about a hundred Hungarian farmers. The Soproni Radlers are flavored by Hungarian sour cherry and elder.

employer in Nagykanizsa, “so, we are happy to see that it has returned to one of the most important sports in the city. Chess gave the town an 11-time Hungarian champion team, which also takes care of educating a new generation. We have a competition for young players, the Batthyány Cup, that we held for the 30th time this year.”

Tamás Nádasi, President of the chess team and of the other name sponsor, Aquaprofit Co. Ltd., recalled the history of the team in detail, stressing that chess life in Nagykanizsa will be 100 years old next year - the first local chess circle was established there in this southwestern Hungarian town in December 1919. “In the recent past, we have achieved unparalleled success by becoming Hungarian champions ten times in a row, including a 100% success rate, that is, having won all

the matches eight times,” he said. Among the team members, there have been several world and Olympic champions, including the world’s top female player, Hungary’s Judit Polgár.

The ceremonial signing was attended by several former and current players of the club. International grand master Zoltán Ribli, a member of the Hungarian team winning the Chess Olympiad in 1978, presented on a display one of the exciting matches of his career to those attending the press conference.

As Joerg Bauer explained to Diplomacy&Trade, the Tungsram brand name is still well-known in many European countries and is being gradually introduced all over the world – even as far from Hungary as Australia – replacing the name ‘GE Lighting’.

First hops plants

AN OLD-NEW NAME RETURNS

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and Technology who was present at the press conference and signing ceremony as the Member of Parliament for the constituency in and around Nagykanizsa. “As a citizen of Nagykanizsa, I would like to thank Joerg Bauer for bringing the lighting company back to sports sponsorship,” he added.

“We are proud that we can return to a beautiful tradition and join the existing sponsors, the town of Nagykanizsa and Aquaprofit," Joerg Bauer pointed out. “Hungary is usually in the top five when it comes to software development or data science. The reason for this is the Hungarian tradition of mathematics, Hungarian language and chess – chess is taught even in school. That is why chess promotion is an investment in the future of this country and that of our children,” he stated.

Nagykanizsa mayor Sándor Dénes highlighted that Tungsram is the largest taxpayer and

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After several decades, Tungsram resumed its name sponsorship of the Nagykanizsa chess team, Hungary’s most successful chess team, winner of the national championship title ten times in a row.

The name change was formalized this October in a cooperation agreement signed by the President of the Tungsram Aquaprofit Nagykanizsa Chess Club, Tamás Nádasi and Tungsram Group Chairman and CEO Joerg Bauer in Budapest.

Tungsram had been the team’s name sponsor for decades until the owner of the brand, GE chose not to participate in the chess world as a supporter.

“One can talk about many records when it comes to the Nagykanizsa chess team and in order that these records continue, we need an old-new supporter alongside the current sponsors,” according to Péter Cseresnyés, Deputy Minister of Innovation

VARGA/MTI, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

TUNGSRAM BRAND REAPPEARS AS THE NAME SPONSOR OF THE HUNGARIAN CHAMPION CHESS TEAM

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witty leaks

WITTY

IN THIS SERIES, DIPLOMATS SHARE PERSONAL ACCOUNTS OF THEIR EXPERIENCES ON “EXCURSIONS” into Hungarian culture, art, gastronomy & scenery.

LE A K S

SPORTS AND DIPLOMACY

Street celebration

CROATIA’S SOFT POWER OF FOOTBALL IN 2018: WHAT’S NEXT?

BY MLADEN ANDRLIĆ, AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

On July 15, 2018, while preparing, with my staff, the Croatian residence in Budapest for watching the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals with the Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and other distinguished guests including the newly appointed French Ambassador Pascale Andreani, I also thought of the success of our national team as a special asset – and additional contribution to Croatian perception and image.

The excellence in team sports favor the advantages of economy of volume, namely material and financial facilities, but mostly the population as a pool of talents to train for becoming top athletes. Although, not classified as such, and being the smallest country to play the finals since Uruguay in 1950, when only twelve teams were competing, Croatia obviously proved its skills, talents, commitment, dedication and even leadership in this very particular field.

In fact, this very success provided a unique opportunity to raise not only international but also global awareness of my country and its potentials, not only in sports, but also in economy, culture, tourism and landscapes.

Being the member state of the EU and NATO, as well as at the geopolitical crossroads of Central and South-East Europe and the Mediterranean, Croatia has also achieved this splendid soft power asset and opportunity.

Moreover, its football has enabled us to break the initial barriers of every modern marketing campaign: visibility and brand recognition.

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COURTESY OF THE EMBASSY OF CROATIA

Croatian branding An important additional element was the exposure and attitude of supporters of the team, but even more the heartfelt cheering of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, who won the public eye both in Croatia and abroad. In the crowd of T- and white shirts and grey suits, she stood out in the national red and white dress even during the medals ceremony.

The social media found her peculiarity refreshing, with more than 80% of mentions being positively intoned.

Thus, the process of Croatian branding was supported effectively, making my job as a diplomat more complex but much easier. Successful diplomacy sometimes means being able to combine the achievements of your country with its promotion among fellow diplomats, creating an atmosphere of dialogue, tolerance, cooperation, friendship, support, joy and happiness. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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Entering the semi-finals also meant time for celebrating on the streets of Budapest.

Driving proudly in our diplomatic cars, using horns and waving Croatian flags, we received unanimous support from the people walking the very center of the city after midnight. It was an amazing sensation and celebration of happiness, which we shared with Hungarian friends. Our already well-known polo shirts with squares were recognized wherever we passed, becoming the best promotion of Croatia that we could provide at that moment.

The same enthusiastic spirit of promoting countries and sports continued at the semi-finals - Croatia vs. England, again at our residence, and this time co-hosted by the charge d’affairs a.i. Caitlin Jones from the British Embassy. Offering English whiskey and Croatian food, the rooms became almost too small for all those who wanted to attend. As the tournament continued, it became a sort of prestige to be part of this unique atmosphere. Achieving the greatest success of Croatian football ever, we wanted to share it with the whole world!

It became a reality: Croatia qualified for the final! Heroes’ Square was the first stop of our celebration that continued further along Andrássy Avenue among tourists and residents of the Hungarian capital. We realized that ‘the boys’ became also the best ambassadors of our country. Even the British Ambassador, Iain Lindsay congratulated via e-mail from his vacation in Croatia at the island of Hvar! So, diplomacy is also about that!

To be continued

That is how we felt each time when hosting ambassadors, other diplomats, representatives of Hungarian institutions and of Croatian community, while organizing events of watching together some of the matches during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It was not only about football! It was even more about how it puts together different spirits and attitudes, through a variety of national foods and drinks, songs, but foremost the transmitting of positive feelings and vibes. The fact was also that small gifts of the Croatian Football Association, kindly provided by the Croatian MFA, were disappearing repeatedly in a moment after being offered.

Joint viewing On June 16, 2018, the Croatian Embassy organized the first event to watch the match of Croatia vs. Nigeria, in collaboration with the Nigerian Embassy. Watching it on a huge double video screen brought together more than fifty people, including ten ambassadors, other diplomats and high ranking guests. The event was co-hosted by Ambassador Eniola Olaitan Ajayi, who supported it with a picturesque presentation of authentic Nigerian food, which was accompanied by Croatian wines, beer and soft drinks. In our

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short opening speeches, we emphasized that even the realizing of such an event means a victory in advance for both countries, bringing us together in the spirit of friendship and common understanding.

The second gathering of sport and diplomacy was held during the quarterfinals match between Croatia and Russia on July 7, at the same venue and this time co-organized with the Russian Embassy. In the absence of Russian Ambassador, I hosted this event with the charge d’affairs a.i. Valery Lyakhov. The attendance of ambassadors increased to 15, with Szabolcs Takács, State Secretary for EU Policies at the Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary, as our guest of honor. A variety of national foods and drinks were offered, from Russian piroshky and vodka to Croatian prosciutto and cheese.

It was like a dream come true: not so long before the World Cup, the promotional tourist video ‘Croatia – full of life’ was awarded best video of the year, and its invitation ’to take a Tour of Champions in the tiny country which dared to dream’ became so vivid and close through these particular football-driven achievements.

But, each and every story, even a fairy tale, comes to an end. The French team won the World Cup, but according to international media ’Croatia won the hearts of spectators around the globe’. Moreover, the captain of our team, Luka Modric became the first player ever to win the World Cup Golden Ball, the UEFA Player of the Year and the FIFA Player of the Year, all in the same year!

However, we will continue with and without sports, hoping to repeat somehow and somewhere such an event of joy, proud, hopes and happiness. Thus, we would go further here, there and everywhere, notwithstanding the forthcoming challenges from changing actors and factors of the international matrix, economic and political fluctuations, to the Brexit, illegal migration and forthcoming EP elections, just to mention a few. It seems I should stop here, but let me finish by quoting one of the most prominent modern thinkers, Sir Winston Churchill, who once mentioned that ‘success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts’.

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germany

LIDL FOR HUNGARIAN SUPPLIERS

THE STORE CHAIN HELPS HUNGARIAN PRODUCERS GET ON FOREIGN SHELVES

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Lidl Wine Expo Hungary The company launched the Lidl Wine Expo Hungary series of events as part of the ‘Lidl for Hungarian Suppliers’ program in 2014.

The purpose of the event, organized for the past four years, aims to support Hungarian wine producers, popularize Hungarian wines in Europe, and promote exports and economic growth. The initiative, which has been based on domestic wine consumption trends of recent years, is an opportunity for domestic wineries, including small family producers and craftsmen, to introduce their products to customers of other European Lidl stores, thereby promoting high quality Hungarian wines.

In 2013, almost six million bottles of Hungarian wine were sold by Lidl in Hungary and the store chain exported Hungarian wines, worth over EUR 3.2 million, to seven European countries.

Lidl Hungary’s management is proud that the company has achieved outstanding results with continuous improvement, and its export activity has significantly grown year on year. In 2017, Lidl Hungary’s sales volume was EUR 9.2 million, basically triple the figure of 2013. While in 2013,

six European countries received wines from Hungary through this channel, today, high quality Hungarian wines are available on the shelves of 5,000 Lidl stores in 11 countries. With this rapid development and almost unprecedented opportunity, Lidl offers a more secure livelihood and uninterrupted professional development opportunities for Hungarian winemakers.

have participated in the Supplier Academy. At these events, domestic producers and suppliers were able to obtain an accurate picture, with the help of the representatives of professional organizations, concerning opportunities for development, and had the opportunity to directly talk with Lidl's staff about becoming suppliers to the store chain. Events held in several regions of the country were organized around a given group of products. This year, lectures were held on organic and premium food. Prior to that, there had been lectures organized around topics like cosmetics, vegetable and fruit, packaged seed products, detergents and fresh meats. More than 600 participants have attended these events over three years. As a result, the range of domestic products has been expanded.

Lidl Supplier Academy For Lidl Hungary, it is of the utmost importance to expand the range of domestic suppliers and to diversify their product selection from new Hungarian suppliers. Therefore, in 2016, Lidl launched a series of events called ‘Supplier Academy’. Since the launch, a total of 662 representatives from more than 500 small and medium-sized enterprises D E C E M B E R

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Thanks to this program, more than 2,500 domestic products are offered to customers; the proportion of Hungarian goods offered by Lidl in country is significant, nearly 60%. While in 2013, the products of 200 Hungarian suppliers were placed in the shelves of Lidl's domestic stores, today, the company has successful cooperation with 455 Hungarian suppliers – an increase of over 150% over the past five years. As a result of this growth, more than 35% of the company's suppliers are Hungarian.

Lidl Hungary also makes it possible for its suppliers to display their products in its stores in foreign countries. At the launch of the program, 106 products – mainly fresh and deep-frozen vegetables, cold cuts and salami, wines, frozen pasta, breaded meat, oil seeds and soft drinks – from 36 Hungarian suppliers became available in nine different European countries. Today, Lidl's customers have access to 289 different products of 117 Hungarian suppliers in 12 European countries.

LIDL HUNGARY

Providing support for domestic businesses has a strategic importance for Lidl Hungary. The store chain launched its ‘Lidl for Hungarian Suppliers’ program in 2013. The aim of the company is to increase the proportion of Hungarian goods on the shelves of the supermarket chain, to support the domestic and international presence of domestic producers and thereby, support the development and competitiveness of the Hungarian economy.

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germany The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) – and its predecessor, HITA – has been around for almost eight years now. Over this period, it has played an important role in attracting investment into this country, including those of German companies.

FOR INVESTMENTS OF HIGHER VALUE

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DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

HIPA, AN IMPORTANT PLAYER IN ATTRACTING GERMAN INVESTMENTS TO HUNGARY

“We launched our foreign trade focus foreign policy in 2014. Since that time, we have completed about 350 investment projects representing EUR 12 billion of capital expenditure and roughly 65,000 jobs. If you look back at just the past calendar year alone, we were able to make agreements on about 96 different investment projects in the total value of EUR 3.5 billion creating more than 17,000 jobs. These numbers represent a significant increase even compared to 2014,” the President of HIPA, Róbert Ésik tells Diplomacy&Trade.

He adds that “Site Selection Magazine, a US publication focused on foreign direct investment, actually ranked Hungary in the top 10 globally as far as the number of investment projects carried out by foreign investors and also put Hungary in the first position regionally, in East Central Europe, in two different categories: the overall category of a location for investment and also in the investment per capita category. This year, HIPA has also been recognized this as the best investment promotion agency of the region, which is very positive feedback and we are very proud of that.” w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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Another example he mentions is that of IBM Plant Location International (PLI), publisher of a yearly survey ‘Global Location Trends’ that measures and monitors investment projects carried out by foreign investors around the world. According to this survey, Hungary was ranked seventh in terms of the number of jobs created by foreign direct investment per million inhabitants. “It is not just the quantity of jobs created by our projects but also the quality as this report also measures the value-add of the jobs which are created by those investment decisions. According to that statistical measure, we have been ranked 16th worldwide, ahead of our regional competitors and countries like South Korea, Austria and the United States,” the HIPA President points out.

Interdependence Germany is Hungary’s most important economic partner, the Hungarian economy highly relies on the ‘well-being’ of the German one. “As of today, 27.5% of our exports are going to the German market, while approximately 25% of all foreign direct investment (FDI) is coming from Germany.

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This also translates into having 6,000 German entities employing more than 300,000 people here in Hungary. It is clear that Hungary and the region of Central Eastern Europe has become the backyard of the German industry. The interdependence is quite strong so it is in our interest to see Germany improving and having a strong economy. Numbers show that we have a very tight cooperation and there is a very strong partnership between the two countries but I think there are several areas where there is still room for further improvement.

On the one hand, we would like to see more and more companies adding services activities to their manufacturing presence. One example of this from the recent past is Viessmann, which manufactures heating devices and recently decided to open a business service center in Hungary. This is a trend that we would like to encourage in the future.

Secondly, there is a very strong eco-system of family-owned businesses in Germany. This is also an area where we believe there could be further room for cooperation, so, we would be more than happy to see some of those mid-size German businesses come to Hungary and establish a presence here. Last but not least, I think that tight cooperation with the German economy can enable additional Hungarian small and mid-size enterprises to integrate into the value chain of the big German investors as suppliers. This is another area that we can still work on,” Róbert Ésik notes.

One-stop shop As for the role of HIPA in attracting German investments to Hungary, the President says that “from our total of 96 in 2017, 29 projects

were related to German companies which is a 30% share approximately and this share goes even higher to more than 35% when considering the number of jobs or the value of the investment that these German companies represent. So, we can say that as a result of HIPA’s activities, the current share of Germans investments is gradually increasing. The model that we operate is basically to have a one-stop shop, end-to-end and free-ofcharge service. It means that we try to give all the relevant information from one hand whether it is about the economic environment, taxation system, incentive possibilities or any other company specific information. We do not only provide help and advice to companies during the initial phase of decisionmaking but also during implementation and the operational phase because they can potentially face challenges in those phases as well and it is important to provide this type of support throughout the life cycle of an investment project.”

A nice place to invest Several years ago Hungary began to implement the dual educational system that is based on the German model. Today, there are more than 60,000 students following this educational curriculum at the secondary level and 26 higher education institutions that offer courses in the dual form in cooperation with firms, including several that are German. For German – and other investors – human capital is important. “We need to understand the needs of the specific investor in terms of what job profiles they would offer, what qualifications they need for the long term and select locations that offer partnerships with educational institutions.

It is also becoming increasingly important that the selected location is not just a nice place to work but also a nice place to live because these companies will send their colleagues with families. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, which is carrying out livability index measurements around the globe of major cities, Budapest is among the top performers if you look at places that have improved the most in the last ten years in terms of the cultural offerings, the variety of recreational activities that the city can offer, the safety and the colorfulness of the city – these all play a very important role in attracting German and other companies,” Róbert Ésik explains.

Focus on quality HIPA is working on several projects that will be announced in the near future. “Our focus from an FDI promotion point of view is no longer on quantity but more about the quality of the investment projects that we bring here because today Hungary is in a completely different situation than eight years ago, so, the challenges and the opportunities are also different. We try to encourage companies to bring in the latest technologies when it comes to manufacturing activities. We now have possibilities of providing financial support even without the creation of additional workplaces provided that the given company is committed to bringing top technologies to the country. On the other hand, we increasingly focus on high value-added service types of activities in three domains: (1) engineering services, (2) software development and ICT related activities and (3) complex centers of excellence or global business services centers.

Luckily, we also see that the results are showing that a larger portion of successful investment projects fall into one of these categories,” the HIPA President concludes.

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germany

E-MOBILITY: SAFETY ABOVE ALL BUDAPEST CONFERENCE DISCUSSES SECURITY REQUIREMENTS AND CALLS FOR INTENSIVE COOPERATION

The e-Mobility Manager of the Hungarian oil and gas group MOL, Róbert Tóth-Fekete, called the installation of a high performance quick charger network one of the strategic goals of his company, while the Managing Director of NKM Mobilitás Ltd., Szabolcs Balogh, emphasized the importance of recognizing diverse customer needs. As a provider of state support schemes, E-Mobi Elektromobilitás Nonprofit Ltd., promotes national interoperability in less favored areas of the market, according to László Pénzes, the company's manager of installation and operations.

In connection with the comprehensive security of e-mobility, Vodafone’s Head of IoT Sales & Business Development in Hungary and the Czech Republic, Gábor Pete, emphasized that without the modern high-capacity info-communication background, there is no transport nowadays and the demand for data transmission networks will exponentially increase with the emergence of self-driving cars. The significance of the automotive paradigm shift was highlighted by László Papp, the leading automotive engineer at Porsche Hungária. He also discussed the safety regulations for Volkswagen's electric vehicles.

TÜV Rheinland InterCert Ltd. and the Jedlik Ányos Cluster – in cooperation with the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) – organized a conference ‘E-mobility - Safety Above All’ this November in the ceremonial hall of the Budapest University of Technology. At the event, government and industry partners as well as R&D experts exchanged views on electrical and intelligent mobility safety systems. Participants agreed that close cooperation is needed to achieve the goals the industry sets to itself.

In his inaugural speech, the Managing Director of TÜV Rheinland InterCert Ltd., Miklós Novák, emphasized that the development of electro mobility allows partners to share concrete experiences and management skills. Meanwhile, the main goal is to ensure that innovative mobility systems become as secure as traditional technologies.

HIPA Vice President Tünde Kis presented the role of alternative drives in the Hungarian automotive industry. She stressed that the serial production of components (like engines or batteries) for electric vehicles has started, and there are more and more such investments that create new tasks for domestic suppliers.

The ‘green transport corridors’ passing through Hungary linking Germany and Turkey have an increasing value in the regional environment according to Pál Ságvári, Ambassador-at-Large for Energy Security in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. According to the diplomat, energy security and de-carbonization aspects must simultaneously be taken into account in the development of transport routes crossing the Danube region.

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Growth above expectations The Jedlik Ányos E-Mobility Cluster is the leading think-tank and advisory organization in the field of electric and de-carbonized mobility in Hungary. Its managing director, Zoltán Vígh, in analyzing the megatrends affecting e-mobility, pointed out that the regulatory processes of the European Union oblige both the energy sector and the transport sector to reduce their emissions significantly, so the dynamic expansion of the e-mobility market, due to climate security obligations, will remain in the long run. The growth in Hungary also exceeds previous expectations, as the stock of electric vehicles in the country reached 7,400 in almost four years – starting from zero.

TÜV Rheinland AG is testing the critical and innovative elements of e-mobility infrastructure around the world, such as charging equipment and energy storage units, Nicolas Bogdanski, Head of Energy Storage at the German mother company said. He also pointed out that it is important to pass unified regulations in this area as soon as possible. That is because, for instance, the main safety switch is in a different place in

different types of electric vehicles – something that greatly hinders the work of the rescue team, he said. Another speaker, Dale A. Martin, the CEO of Siemens Hungary Co. Ltd. presented strategic ideas for the new type of mobility and energy systems of the world's largest technology company.

Comprehensive security In the second part of the event, the dominant players of the domestic e-mobility market explored the developments that can guarantee safety, sustainability, development and consumer confidence.

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Outreach Scientist at AImotive, Árpád Takács, reflected, in his presentation, on the parallel challenges resulting from automated mobility. He highlighted the need for consistency of regulation and planning methods so that security risks could be minimized. At the same time, he drew attention to the increased energy demand of selfdriving vehicles.

Tamás Jászay, Director of Enterprise Development at the electricity company ELMŰ, which has a pioneering role in e-mobility in Hungary, emphasized that only the prudent and smart development of electrical networks can guarantee the overall security of the system; and during development, it should be borne in mind that high-powered (fast) charging equipment can recharge vehicles at a cost of at least ten or fifteen times of that of household electricity prices.

The security aspects of the hydrogen technology, which is a cross section between the energy and mobility sectors, were analyzed by Zoltán Mayer, secretary of the Hungarian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association.

Then, Gábor Kovács, Business Area Manager of TÜV Rheinland InterCert Ltd., the main sponsor of the conference, pointed out what security considerations and important investigations should be considered by those who enter the world of e-mobility.

As Péter Fáth, Manager of Stakeholder Relations at TÜV Rheinland Intercert Ltd. noted to Diplomacy&Trade, the exchange of views during and after the lectures at the conference that about 130 people registered for, confirmed organizers' expectations that developing and spreading electric and intelligent mobility in Hungary is essential to knowing the security requirements and intensive cooperation of the partners involved.

FÁTH

Security risks minimized

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The new Audi Q3 It’s happening.

You can idealise the past or try to predict the future.

Or you can just enjoy what’s happening now. Like the new Audi Q3, with its new Q design language that impressively combines strength and presence without leaving anyone indifferent.

Everything you need so that now is always the best moment.

Audi Vorsprung durch Technik

Book 1.indb 37 Audi_Q3_280x360_angol.indd 1

The fuel consumption on combined cycle of the new Q3 is: 4,7-6,3 l/100 km, CO2 emission is: 123-145 g/km. The specified data have been determined according to the measurement procedure of WLTP transferred to the NEDC figures and valid for EU basic-line vehicles only. These given data do not refer to a particular individual vehicle and do not constitute part of the sales offering. They are intended exclusively as a means of comparison between different vehicle types according the 715/2007 EK regulation as currently in force. The relevant vehicle parameters may change according to individual driving style and other, not technical factors (e.g. environmental conditions). From 1 September 2017, certain new vehicles will be type-approved using to the World Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP), which is a new, more realistic test procedure for measuring fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. From 1 September 2018 the WLTP will fully replace the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), which is the current test procedure.

Due to more realistic test conditions, the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions measured under the WLTP are in many cases higher compared to those measured under the NEDC. The pictured vehicle is for illustration purpose only and may contain additional equipment and accessories.

12/5/18 3:58 PM 2018.12.04. 14:46:40

germany

WORLDWIDE HOSPITALITY AWARD KEMPINSKI HOTEL CORVINUS BUDAPEST’S GM CHOSEN ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP 3 HOTELIERS More than 800 guests gathered in the salons of the InterContinental Paris Le Grand for the 19th Worldwide Hospitality Awards presentation.

The ceremony, held on November 7, was presided over by David Kong, President and CEO of Best Western Hotels&Resorts, the 10th largest hotel group in the world according to Hospitality ON's ranking as of January 1, 2018. The event also celebrated the 25th anniversary of Hospitality ON. This year, once again, with the organization of the annual Worldwide Hospitality Awards, Hospitality ON has valorized initiatives taken by groups, brands and independent hotels to help the international hotel industry evolve. Out of more than 150 applications presented in 14 categories (such as Best Innovation in Hotel Concept, Best Communication Campaign, Best Iconic Employee, Lifetime Achievement), finalists and winners were chosen after an online election on Hospitality ON and the deliberation by two juries of experts on the Advisory Board, including both hoteliers and non-hoteliers, presided over by Olivier Cohn, CEO Best Western France, as well as by Hervé Novelli, Président du Conseil Supérieur de l’OEnotourisme for companies and foreign trade, who were designated to lead the jury this year. Short-listed by an international jury, made up of business people, tourism and communication specialists, Stephan Interthal, General Manager of the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, was one of the three finalists competing for the “Best Hotelier” award.

"The success of the Worldwide Hospitality Awards resides in its increasing renewal, a phenomenon

that foreshadows the future face of hospitality. It is not only a modernization of brands, concepts and communication, but also and especially a rejuvenation among the candidates, participants and the public of the ceremony. This event, which is more forward-looking than ever, represents a unique opportunity to discover the concepts that will form the hotel industry and the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. A new generation is now taking over the reins, which is why today, alongside the great international leaders, there is an evergrowing crowd of 'Millennials', the young men and women who have taken over the new economy to dramatically transform the landscape of the sector. Their presence, trust and enthusiasm are a testament to the vitality of the Worldwide Hospitality Awards institution. In light of the promises they embody, we can only be optimistic about the success of future editions of this event, which has become a must for both historical groups and young professionals in the sector, who are now taking over.

I look forward to seeing you next year for the 20th anniversary of the competition!" declared Georges Panayotis, President and Founder of the Worldwide Hospitality Awards.

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wine

#aszuday

CELEBRATING TOKAJ ASZÚ, THE ‘WINE OF KINGS, KING OF WINES’

December 10th marks International Aszú Day, dedicated to one of the greatest sweet wines in the world. Be an ambassador of Tokaj Aszú on this day, purchase a bottle of Tokaj Aszú, ask for it in your favorite restaurant or uncork one at home and prepare a dish with foie gras to accompany it.

Don’t forget to share the experience with others!

Brainchild of Dániel Kézdy, the first Aszú Day was organized in 2017. “It was surprisingly successful; we received an immense amount of feedback, not only from Hungary, but from every corner of the world. Many people remarked on how they were not particularly keen on sweet wines before, but having tasted an exceptional aszú made them change their opinion. I have often personally encountered that after the first experience with aszú, you are bound to re-evaluate the whole category,” Kézdy says, adding that his initiative includes food pairings. Last year it was Sechuan cuisine; this year the focus will be on something more traditional: foie gras. “Though most people consider it a dessert wine, Tokaj Aszú partners well with an array of foods,” Kézdy explains. “Hungary is among the top producers of quality goose liver so it is only natural that one of the traditional matches for aszú wines is foie gras. The slightly sweet flavor of foie gras beautifully complements the residual sugar of aszú and the vibrant acidity is the perfect antidote to the rich texture.” When preparing the food, one should also consider the character of the aszú. Young aszús are best matched with fruit and herbs, older, mature bottles pair well with dried fruit, jam and caramelized dishes. Due to the variations in vintages, vineyards and technology, aszús show great diversity providing ample room for bolder experiments with flavors when cooking.

Tokaj Aszú The Tokaj wine region is situated in North-East Hungary. It has a long tradition of wine making, in fact it was the world’s first delimited wine region with records dating back to 1737. The secret to its exceptional sweet wines with their incomparable character lies in the coexistence of five factors: soil, microclimate, botrytis, native varieties and technology.

The bedrock is of volcanic origin, which endows wines with minerality and tight structure.

In autumn, the microclimate influenced by wet weather and the humidity generated by the rivers is conducive to the onset of Botrytis cinerea (or best known as ‘noble rot’) responsible for the shriveling of berries. Aszú berries with high sugar concentration are picked manually, over an extended period lasting for months. All winemakers have to follow a carefully stipulated technology and the wines can only be made from the six permitted varieties grown within the region. The aszú berries are macerated in the fermenting juice or base wine of the same vintage, residual sugar content must reach at least 120 gram/liter and the wines have to be aged in wooden barrels.

Celebrate 2019 with an exotic gastronomical journey to the Middle East! Baalbek Lebanese Restaurant is waiting for you with the finest Levantine cuisine and unmatched oriental atmosphere on the

31ST OF DECEMBER FROM 20.00 PM.

FURMINT PHOTO

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MORE INFORMATION AND TABLE RESERVATION info@baalbek.hu | +36 1 799 7303 H-1052 Budapest, Váci utca 34. (entrance from Kígyó utca)

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tasting

DT WINE CHALLENGE 2018 HUNGARIAN WINES IN FRONT OF AN INTERNATIONAL JURY

Diplomacy&Trade and the Prestige Reserve Club cohosted the 'DT Wine Challenge’ on November 28 at Gundel Restaurant. The concept behind the event was to engage an international, non-professional jury made up of the heads of embassies in Hungary and senior executives of foreign-owned companies to judge the Hungarian wines presented. The event promoters were convinced that it could be a very important guideline for Hungarian wineries to observe how an internationally experienced jury would evaluate Hungarian wines: “the winemakers can get a picture of international taste – and the preferences of foreigners – concerning wines,” said Peter Freed, Publisher of Diplomacy&Trade. The professional jury of Prestige Reserve Club selected and pre-tested hundreds of batches of wine, choosing the 60 that were presented to the participants at the DT Wine Challenge. To assist this jury, Prestige Reserve Club delegated four experts to lead the evaluation and analyze the results. They will present their conclusion and reveal the labels and winemakers most favored, at the 9th Prestige Award Ceremony, on December 12. Following the testing session, Gundel Restaurant served delicious finger food prepared by Chef Zsolt Litauszki.

IT IS THE FESTIVE SEASON

photos by DÁVID

HARANGOZÓ, DEBOMIT CHAKRABORTY, ZOLTÁN MÁTHÉ/MTI

SPECIAL FAIRS AND MARKETS AWAIT VISITORS IN DECEMBER

When this edition of Diplomacy&Trade is out of the printing facility, we are well into what is a festive season in most parts of the world.

The temperature in Hungary is certainly wintery, so even the ‘authentic Santa Claus’, Finland’s Joulupukki feels at home as he visits Hungarian children.

Commercial outlets are well prepared for what is their high season. Budapest – as many other cities around the globe – features plenty of opportunities for the traditional shopping at festive markets. The two main market venues in the Hungarian capital are Vörösmarty Square at the end of the downtown shopping street ‘Váci utca’ and the square in front of the Basilica of St. Stephen.

The traditional and the newly conceived, more modern forms of art and folk art are given a special emphasis at these fairs. Outstanding quality is assured by the fact that traditionally, an independent jury chooses the high quality products that can be presented and sold at the event, whether it is for toys, handicrafts, souvenirs, trendy or sophisticated culinary specialties.

The delicious food specialties, handmade sweets and drinks made from local ingredients are complemented

All proceeds of the fair are donated to the following Hungarian charities that are supported by Diplomatic Spouses of Budapest:

DIPLOMATIC FAIR Of course, this time of the year is also about charity. The Diplomatic Spouses of Budapest (DSB) is a non-political, non-religious community of the spouses of Ambassadors and Deputies of Embassies and Consular Missions based in Budapest, Hungary. This is the eighth year that DSB, in collaboration with the InterContinental Budapest has organized the Diplomatic Fair.

This year, 52 countries were represented by their embassies. Stalls showcased specialties and souvenirs from around the world with food – and drink from over twenty countries.

Entertainment included music and dance from, among others, Korea, India, and Slovakia, and bagpipers from Scotland. Children had a corner devoted especially to them and there were exciting raffle prizes, big and small, to be won. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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by a selection of traditional Hungarian cuisine. Wellknown restaurateurs can be spotted behind the counters, representing the gastro-cultural values of the Carpathian Basin and the traditions of the Christmas celebration with a sense of mission and credibility. Gastronomic shows and tastings (goose, stuffed cabbage, etc.) also await visitors. Besides the traditional chimney cake, pies and roasted chestnut, chocolates and marzipans made in small manufactures, it is also possible to taste strudels and gingerbread, etc. – as well as the tastes and flavors of other nations.

Drinks are also available to complement the different flavors: everyone can choose from the range of products offered by the different Hungarian wine regions.

Hungarian wine is authentic and accessible, making it a real pleasure for foreign and domestic tourists to later visit the wine region they get to like at the market.

Several of the holiday fairs also feature performances of folk music, jazz, crossover, alternative, blues, or soul concerts. Many times, children are invited to perform on the stage with puppet theaters and music dancing on weekends.

• A MI HÁZUNK 'Our House' foundation in Esztergom, offering

educational and social support for disadvantaged children and adolescents, particularly from Roma families; • SOFI, Special Education and Development Institute for children with intellectual and physical disabilities in Budapest; • SEMMELWEIS UNIVERSITY, Paediatric Oncology Department (through Őrzők Foundation); • PETŐ INSTITUTE, (Andras Pető Faculty, Semmelweis University) for children with cerebral palsy.

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hospitality

NEW CHALLENGES ARE OPPORTUNITIES DUTCH HOTELIER MANAGES QATARI HOTEL AFTER LEAVING BUDAPEST

Following his top position at the Budapest Marriott Hotel, Dutchman Rick Enders has been General Manager of the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel in Qatar for the past f ive months.

The General Manager has introduced changes at the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha since taking the helm there. He explains that he sees the hospitality industry today in Qatar as one consisting of dynamic surroundings in a state of movement and evolution. “Now, we focus on the future of hospitality and adapt to the wants and needs of our biggest target guest group, the millennial travelers and experiencers. This new generation spends more on experiences. So, we are working on more open public spaces for our guests to meet new people and gather with friends, simple and innovative dining options such as ‘grab&go’ concepts, healthy, nutritiondriven menus. Technology is no longer an option, but a necessity. We have started to work on an app which will enable us to speak to the new generation travelers in their own language.”

The Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel received the ‘Green Hotel 2018 Award’ in the Qatar Sustainability Awards 2018, presented by the Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), a member of Qatar Foundation at the end of this October.

“I am very proud of my team and the hard work their efforts towards a sustainable future and responsible tourism that benefits our guests, our employees and the community. We will continue the implementation of our project to decrease the use of energy, waste, and water to provide a more natural environment for our guests,” he adds.

A highly committed hotelier Rick Enders is the head of a 600-member team, overseeing the hotel as well as an apartment hotel, and he also has excellent Italian and Brazilian restaurants and even a Sports Bar (Champions) to operate. Managing all this requires the effective use of skills that he has developed over his professional career.

“With more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry and a Food & Beverage background, I would describe myself as a highly committed hotelier who delivers guests'

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Visibility to Qatar This is the period leading up to the 2022 football World Cup that is to take place in Qatar, obviously providing a great business opportunity for all actors on that market. As the General Manager notes, “the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be the first time that this tournament is held in the Middle East and this will further open Qatar’s market for tourism as the host country is expected to receive a large number of foreign visitors. This will bring a lot of visibility to the country and the region. The Qatari government is well ahead in making its preparations to host the tournament. The country is hosting a high number of other international events in the run up to 2022, including the IAAF World Athletics Championship in 2019. These events will continue to promote the country as a fantastic destination for travelers."

Stopover opportunities Qatar Airways offers a free stopover night stay in Doha hotels. As to how much business this offer generates and the relationship between the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel and Qatar Airways, Rick Enders points out that Qatar Airways’ Plus Qatar campaign is a beneficial initiative, which gives passengers the opportunity to experience Doha first-hand. “Travelers stop over for a couple of nights and discover the exciting sights, sounds and tastes of Qatar. We have been hosting Qatar Airways’ Plus Qatar campaign passengers since June 2017, which provides us an opportunity to showcase our hotel and services along with the destination experience. This campaign, hosting people from a total of 80 countries from all around the world, generates a huge amount of business not only for our hotel, but also for the entire market. We are committed to working closely with Qatar Airways and will continue supporting each other to achieve bigger goals to grow business in Qatar,” he concludes.

LANCECENAR

The future of hospitality

and owners’ satisfaction through operational excellence. While building up my leadership skills, my biggest goal and achievement has always been guest loyalty. In line with that, I believe large teams can achieve fantastic results if the team members are in sync with one another; that is how we work at Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel. Every person in a team comes with their own share of skills and talents, and helping them communicate freely to see the larger picture is the key to maintaining consistency. Having a ‘One Team, One Goal’ philosophy with our talent, commitment, and unity, we have built one strong team. Through our ability to always reach beyond our potential, we have achieved our most important goal: guest loyalty,” he points out.

photo by

“I have a passion to create remarkable and memorable guest experiences in partnership with our associates and shareholders, by being creative and innovative in every aspect of hospitality. Hands-on experience across three continents and nine different countries has given me a solid foundation so that new challenges are opportunities for me.

Hospitality is all about creating deep connections with guests and I am so privileged to be working with a warm, kind and caring team whose mission is putting our guests first, pursuing excellence and making guests feel at home so that they always want to come back,” he tells Diplomacy&Trade.

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travel in the city. One of the hidden treasures there is the carved wooden Bethlehem in the Primate’s Palace yard.

As in any other city during Christmas time, the Market is full of local specialties and goodies that will definitely entice visitors’ taste buds.

The choice is wide: delicacies like lokša, goose, cigánska pečienka (Roma-styled roasted pork), potato pancake, strudel, mead, mulled wine and punch. In addition to gastronomy, people can treat themselves to home-made products and traditional souvenirs like scented candles, fur hats and scarves, handmade wooden toys, jewelry, books, and much more – even an original Christmas gift for the loved ones.

Advent at the Castle The Bratislava Castle during the Advent festive season holds not only Christmas markets but also performances of traditional customs and folklore. Experience the magic of history in the Christmas atmosphere in an untraditional place.

FESTIVITIES IN BRATISLAVA SLOVAKIA’S SPECIAL PROGRAMS DURING THE FESTIVE SEASON AND BEYOND

After an autumn packed with cultural events and great gastronomy comes the most festive time in the life of the Slovak capital city. Cold weather and snow only encourages locals and visitors to f ill the streets and squares, which turn, in November and December, into ice rinks, traditional Christmas markets and decorated alleys.

The city center squares (Hviezdoslav Square, Primate’s Square, Eurovea) give people winter skating opportunities at well-prepared open-air ice rinks with skates and skating props for children available for hire.

A special Christmas tram completes the atmosphere of the most beautiful period of the year, with city tours around and through the city center. The interior of the tram, in red and green with a fireplace, and Christmas carols resembles a cozy home. In 2017, it was named one of the most beautiful Christmas trams in Central Europe. This tram operates from December 6 to December 30, 2018 (except December 24 and 25) from 4 PM to 8 PM (from 10 AM to 8 PM during weekends). Rides are free of charge.

Christmas markets Christmas markets have had a long tradition in Bratislava. It is a place where friends meet, and time runs a little slower. People come together to drink mulled wine or mead and enjoy the true atmosphere of Christmas.

Starting on November 23 this year, the Christmas Market is located – with an irresistible fragrance and a unique atmosphere – at the Main Square and Hviezdoslavovo Square. In recent years, the Christmas Market has migrated to other locations of the city center as well, such as the square in front of the Eurovea shopping center.

One of the nicest moments is the ceremonial lighting of the Christmas tree at the Main Square.

Over the years, this moment has become a symbol of the opening of the Christmas season

Christmas world of music and fantasy In addition to the Christmas market stages with local singers and dancers performing, each year there is something special in store. This year, people can enjoy a swing Christmas with a swing orchestra and dance school. The Christmas concert in Bratislava regularly presents Christmas songs, opera arias, Slovak and world Christmas carols performed by leading Slovak soloists. The Nutcracker ballet is a return to the traditional and most appreciated version of Russian choreographer Vasili Vainonen. An opportunity for people to immerse themselves in the world of childhood innocence and boundless fantasy.

Christmas traditions As with any other festive season, Christmas has dozens of traditions like these customs kept in many Slovak households:

CARP’S SCALE Scale of carp, a traditional Christmas Eve meal, is placed under the table cloth or into a wallet. The custom is meant to bring the person money.

APPLE CORE STAR One of the family members cuts an apple across on the Christmas Eve and if the seeds are arranged in the shape of star, it is believed to mean health and happiness throughout the entire coming year. If the apple shows a cross, that means disease or death.

NUT IN A CORNER A walnut, typical for Christmas, is thrown into the corner of the room during the Christmas dinner for an abundance of good things.

PLATE EXTRA An extra plate is laid for the Christmas dinner for any unexpected guest or departed member of the family.

NO LEAVING THE TABLE DURING DINNER During the Christmas dinner, no one should leave the table. All the food and drinks must therefore be near so that anyone in the family can reach them.

New Year’s Eve During this night, Bratislava is immersed in celebrating the New Year and many local businesses have special offers prepared for their customers. People come out into the streets of Bratislava and enjoy the music of popular bands in the center of the city.

Shortly before midnight, the festive atmosphere culminates and people count down together the seconds which divide them from the New Year.

When the clock strikes midnight, the sky over Bratislava begins with a spectacular performance of fireworks with a reflection in the Danube of the spectacle over Bratislava castle.

MORE INFORMATION

www.visitbratislava.com www.slovakia.travel

...AND ELSEWHERE IN SLOVAKIA Košice Christmas Market

The Christmas Market in Košice, the second biggest Slovak city, traditionally starts on December 5, on the eve of St Nicolas’s Day. With the help of the Mayor of Košice, an almost 20-meter-high Christmas tree lights up the Hlavná Street full of stands with delicious meals, wonderful drinks and original hand-made souvenirs. The charitable mayor’s hot toddy and ambrosial mulled wine from Slovak vineyards warm peoples’ hearts and bodies alike, with roasted sausages, peanuts and boiled corn filling up their empty stomachs!

A living nativity scene, activities for children and concerts of famous bands as well as performances of pupils from schools are a must at the event lasting until December 23. An inherent part of Košice Christmas market is the ‘Angelical sauerkraut soup’.

For one day, a large 1,000-liter cauldron appears under the Christmas tree to warm the bodies and hearts of all people of good will. For EUR 1, one can buy a bowl of this traditional Christmas soup and light up Christmas for children and families in need.

Christmas in the town of Poprad…

Poprad is a picturesque town at the foot of the High Tatras, known not only for its history and interesting sights but also as a town where one can enjoy many unique moments.

Poprad is magical at Christmas, with beautiful Christmas decorations that are truly unique far and wide. Between December 2 and January 6, visitors are welcome to spend fairy-tale moments in the town where a Christmas angel comes every year and the Christmas tree is lit up by St. Nicholas that also arrives there on December 5. The central square – where a 12-meter-tall angel is the dominant figure – is full of kids who help St. Nicholas light up the Christmas decorations.

…and in the village of Štrba

The peaceful and loving Christmas time begins with the traditional Opening of Christmas Doors under the Tatras on a stage next to the Municipal office of Štrba on December 23 at 5 PM – with performances of folklore ensembles, church choirs and a market. And to wish the settlement of Šrbské Pleso a long and successful ski season, the amusing New Year´s Eve Baptism of a Snowflake takes place on December 31.

DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM

PROGRAMS IN THE HIGH TATRAS

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A series of programs, concerts, theater performances and literary-dramatic shows are prepared for Christmas in the High Tatras from December 6 to December 30. The most beautiful holiday of the year will be celebrated with music, the aroma of mulled wine, popular meals and folk craft traditions at the Christmas market of the Lomnica hotel, where Hungarian, Slovak and international wines can be tasted and will be offered in a small shop along with original Christmas presents such as chocolate products, home-made jams, chutney, coffee and tea.

Of course, the fans of skiing can take advantage of the natural assets of the region during the winter season by putting on the skis themselves or attending ski competitions like the Tatra Cross-country Skiing Cup (December 15-16), the Cross-country Skis of Štrba (a public race on January 20), or the Slovak Cross-country Skiing Championships (March 16-17 in the cross-country skiing complex of Štrbské Pleso). w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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Farewell Reception The departing Serbian Ambassador to Hungary, Rade Drobac held a farewell reception for fellow diplomats and other guests at the Serbian Embassy in Budapest. To mark the end of his tenure in this country, the Hungarian president awarded Ambassador Drobac, who is retiring, the Middle Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit.

The Republic Day of Turkey On the 95th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, Ahmet Akif Oktay invited guests for a reception in the Hungarian Heritage House in the Buda Castle. The event commemorate the declaration of Turkey as a republic in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

In the Rhythm of Czechoslovakia The Embassy of the Czech Republic, the Czech Centrum, the Embassy of the Republic of Slovakia and the Slovak Institute organized the music and dance evening ‘In the Rhythm of Czechoslovakia’ in the Czech Embassy in Budapest, on the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia. Guests were requested to dress in the style of the 1920s-‘30s.

Spanish Diplomat Honored

Five new ambassadors accredited to Hungary presented their credentials to Hungarian President János Áder at the Sándor Palace in the Buda Castle this November (pictured from left to right): José Filomeno de Carvalho Dias Monteiro from the Republic of Cabo Verde; Abdulla Abdullatif Abdulla from the Kingdom of Bahrain; Manuel Sarkis Hassassian from Palestine; Thórir Ibsen from Iceland; and Zaal Gogsadze from Georgia.

Algeria National Day In celebration of the 64th Anniversary of the National Day of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the country’s ambassador to Hungary, Abdelkader Dehendi welcomed guests to the Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge Hotel. The day commemorates November 1, 1954 when the Algerian War of Independence against France started.

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New Ambassadors

DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, NOÉMI BRUZÁK/MTI

The Spanish Embassy planted a tree in Budapest on the street dedicated to the diplomat Ángel Sanz-Briz (1910-1980), who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish Hungarians during World War II. "It is the best symbol of life", Ambassador Anunciada Fernández de Córdova said of the planted tree. The ceremony was attended by fellow diplomats as well as representatives of Hungarian social and political life.

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society

Latvia Independence Day On the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia, the country’s Ambassador to Hungary, Vilmārs Heniņš hosted a chamber concert and a reception in the Uránia National Film Theater in Budapest. The country’s independence was proclaimed by the People's Council of Latvia on November 18, 1918.

Albania Independence Day On the 106th Anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Albania, the country’s ambassador, Arian Spasse hosted a reception at the Museum of Military History in the Buda Castle attended, among others, by members of the diplomatic corps and of the Albanian community in Hungary. Guests were entertained by Albanian soprano Alisa Katroshi and pianist Almira Emiri.

Poland Independence Day 2018 is a jubilee year in Poland, marking the 100th anniversary of the country its regaining independence. In order to celebrate this anniversary, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, Jerzy Snopek hosted a reception in the newly restored Museum of Fine Arts in the Hungarian capital.

Charity Dinner The 2nd special charity dinner took place this November at the Hilton Budapest hotel for the benefit of the Magic Lamp (Csodalámpa) Foundation that has been granting wishes for kids with life-threatening illnesses for the past 15 years. Csodalámpa grants approximately 300 wishes a year to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.

Belgium King’s Day HARANGOZÓ, COURTESY PICTURES, NOÉMI BRUZÁK/MTI

To commemorate her country’s King’s Day, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium, Marie-France André organized a reception at her residence in the Hungarian capital for fellow members of the diplomatic corps and other guests. The King's Feast has been celebrated in honor of the King (currently, King Philippe) in Belgium on November 15 since 1866.

Diplomatic Spouses Visit Re-opened Museum

photos by DÁVID

Anita Herczegh, the wife of Hungarian President János Áder visited the exhibitions of the recently re-opened Museum of Fine Arts at the City Park in Budapest with spouses of the diplomatic mission leaders accredited to Hungary.

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THE HEALING POWER OF FILMS AND FILM-MAKING ‘VERZIÓ 15’ FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS WAPIKONI’S FRIENDS

‘Wapikoni – Encounter in Kitcisakik’, in 51 minutes, documents a visit by the Wapikoni Mobile, the celebrated studio on wheels that for the past six years has travelled through Aboriginal communities in Quebec, providing production training to youth. “Wapikoni Mobile today is also a non-profit organization based in Montreal, Quebec', explains Manon Barbeau, who co-founded the organization in 2003 along with the Council of the Atikamekw Nation and the Youth Council First Nations of Quebec and Labrador (currently known as First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Youth Network). According to Barbeau, the name Wapikoni pays tribute to a 20-year-old Atikamekw girl who lost her life in a car accident on the badly maintained road leading up to a reservation.

“Wapikoni Awashish, with her pure heart, bravery, and dedicated community-building work, had

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Learning by doing

earned her people’s trust: she was the primary candidate for the position of tribal chief in her community. Her senseless death, and the many other tragedies among Canadian indigenous people, upset me so much that I decided to take action.” The launch of Wapikoni Mobile took place in 2004 during the Montreal First Peoples Festival. Motorized vehicles outfitted with editing and recording equipment were sent to indigenous communities, offering youth the opportunity to express themselves by shooting documentaries, music videos or short films. “The idea was an instant hit. The first permanent studio was inaugurated at Wemotaci in 2006; other communities have since acquired similar studios. Today, the company is proud to have helped produce over a thousand short films – an unparalleled cultural heritage,” says Barbeau, who, shortly after her visit to Budapest,

The mobile studios travel thousands of kilometers each year, visiting new and old Aboriginal communities, providing workshops for First Nations youth that allow them to master digital tools by directing short films and musical works. During each stopover, ‘mentor filmmakers’ welcome and train thirty young participants during all stages of implementation. By bringing youth together, participating in positive and rewarding activities, the arrival of Wapikoni Mobile offers "respite" to communities often faced with severe social issues. Sometimes referred to as a ‘youth center on wheels', at times, Wapikoni Mobile hosts, children, parents and grandparents who become involved in different ways in creative youth projects. “Our mobile studios offer a safe and friendly place of creation, equipped with the latest digital technology in film-making and music. They are an environment conducive to communication and intergenerational relationships essential for the transmission of cultural traditions and practices between youth and seniors. They also serve as venue for the public and media during special events, forums, conferences, exhibitions, product launches, and more,” Barbeau notes, adding that since Wapikoni’s inception, more than 5,000 participants have been trained or initiated in documentary film or musical recording; 300 to 500 new participants each year. “70 short films and 30 musical recordings are created every year in Canada and abroad, which make a one-of-a-kind indigenous cultural heritage collection that is unique in the world, so far featuring over 1,000 films and 750 musical recordings. As a result of D E C E M B E R

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VERZIÓ 15 FESTIVAL

The primary aim of documentary filming is to record the events of the world, to reveal hidden phenomena, and to show human stories: to create a visual imprint of what is going on around us. Therefore, the slogan of this year’s festival is the Latest Imprint of the World!

IMPLEMENTING WAPIKONI MOBILE METHODS IN HUNGARY

Following the screening at Toldi cinema, within the framework of the ‘Wapikoni’s Friends’ program, a workshop was organized, bringing together 60 people, including Counsellor Charlotte Garay from the Candian Embassy in Budapest, along with representatives of organizations working with Roma populations and advocates for vulnerable groups.

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Why Wapikoni?

the trainings, and with this new opportunity to be seen and recognized, participants have had a boost in self-esteem and improved their ability to manage stress. They feel less isolated, less invisible and therefore less dependent on drugs and alcohol. This is how making short films about their own culture can save lives.” Wapikoni Mobile also creates jobs, employing a dozen people in its administrative offices and approximately 60 contractual field workers, a half of them indigenous.

Officially partnering with UNESCO, the company extended its workshops throughout the country, and stepped thru the borders of Canada, effectively giving a voice to more and more young Indigenous people in South America, Europe and the Middle-East.

received the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-violence, on the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance (November 16), at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

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This year’s annual International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival titled ‘Verzió 15’ presented 59 films from 35 countries as well as a huge number of programs including roundtable and panel discussions, concerts and more.

Organized in November, the festival started in Budapest and continued in Pécs, Kecskemét and Szeged. In Budapest alone, the fest had up to 10,000 visitors over six days. One of the highlights of the festival, the screening of Mathieu Vachon’s ‘Wapikoni – Encounter in Kitcisakik’, followed by a discussion on women’s roles in Canada, with special guests Isabelle Poupart, Ambassador of Canada to Hungary and Canadian documentary filmmaker Manon Barbeau was organized by the Visual World Foundation.

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culture KOMPLEX

As a result of the reconstruction of the former VAM Design Center and the former Hungarian Royal Winery, Komplex today is a 11,500square-meter building, featuring exhibition and function rooms on the ground floor and at minus 1, along with co-working offices on the upper floor levels and a boutique hotel on the top floor. Sometime soon, its signature atrium will become a gastro-hub.

answer questions. In addition, workshops were organized with the presence of István 'Kokó' Kovács (Olympic champion boxer), János Hrutka (national footballer), Antónia Mészáros (Head of UNICEF in Hungary) and Pál Győrfi (Spokesman of the National Ambulance Service) who talked about the importance of daily exercise and the consequences of unhealthy habits.”

Touching stories

OUR MISSION IS THE SHOW

JVS GROUP, A POWERHOUSE IN THE TOURING EXHIBITION INDUSTRY

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DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, JVS GROUP

Just as Hollywood has its epic hits, exhibitions can also turn into blockbusters with recordbraking numbers of visitors. This never happens by accident: such productions need worldclass content, flawless design set in the best venue, backed up with a bullet proof marketing strategy and sponsors.

In 2000, the Czech-based JVS Group was formed to promote, create, design, produce and manage such productions, in addition to concerts and cultural events in Central and Eastern Europe. Its Hungarian branch quickly found its niche market in Budapest, when it debuted with the Titanic exhibition in July 2017. “Our goal is to captivate and ‘edutain’ (educate and entertain at the same time) large audiences through compelling stories that use authentic objects and artifacts,” says Dániel Bátyi, the Managing Director of JVS Group Hungary Ltd., that this year entered into a 6-year lease for the 2,200 square meter exhibition area at Komplex.

“This strategic partnership is a milestone in our life. It was crucial to find a place able to host the large-scale exhibitions we intend to promote in Hungary, one after the other. Long-term planning always pays in show business,” Dániel notes, adding that it is much easier to build an exhibition in a flexible venue, which they know from top to bottom. “This enables us to spend w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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less time installing the exhibition components; consequently we won’t need months-long breaks in between the shows. Proximity to foot traffic, area and regional demographics, and competitive analysis are also key factors when one selects a venue, and Komplex, with its superb downtown location, a few steps from Deák tér and the buzzing Gozsdu yard, fulfills all our expectations.” According to Zsuzsanna Oláh, Communication and Marketing Director at JVS Group Hungary Ltd., visitor figures so far show that there is a big demand for their productions.

“Our spectacular Titanic exhibition attracted 220,000 visitors. People were snaking in Király Street, waiting to get in. We had to extend our opening hours and finally we closed the exhibition two weeks later than we originally planned, on January 14. We opened our next show ‘BODY’ on February 15, which was available until the end of June. 260,000 people came to see it, among them an immense number of student groups. We thought this can’t grow further, but it seems that our current

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exhibition, the ‘World of Mummies’ will surpass the success of BODY,” Zsuzsanna notes. “Since education has always been important for us, we prepare learning tools and teaching materials for schools.

These are free to download, so teachers can access them easily.

From their feedback we know that history and biology teachers find these materials useful to adapt to their curriculum. Students brought to our past three exhibitions have experienced hands-on learning at its best.” According to Dániel, it is a tendency that once children have seen the exhibitions during a school trip, they return with their families, for a double dose of information. “I’m sure that our BODY exhibition completely changed our visitors’ attitudes towards their own bodies. By understanding how the body works, one can better care for it and keep it healthy. Our goal was not to scandalize people, but to draw their attention to the importance of a healthy way of life,” Zsuzsanna continues. “To complete the visitor experience, medical students were available at all time the venue to

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True to its slogan ‘Our mission is the SHOW!’ JVS Group has set increasingly high standards, using leading edge tech solutions and many innovative ideas to bring untold stories to life in a way that has never been done before. To explain, Dániel talks about the thematics of the Titanic exhibition.

“Guests entered the scene with a replica of a Titanic boarding pass: each pass had the name of a real passenger on it. As guests walked through the exhibition, their passenger’s history begun to unfold before them. At the final gallery, a memorial wall listed the names of all passengers, and guests were challenged to match the names on their own boarding passes with those on the wall. This is where the connection became very real and personal: they could find out if their ‘alter ego’ survived or perished, for an experience they will never forget.” According to Dániel, a number of rich and engaging exhibitions will come to Budapest in the future, starting with the ‘Gold of the Incas’ and the ‘Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh.’ “In 2016, JVS Group produced ‘Cosmos Discovery,’ the largest travelling astronautics exhibition in the world which tells the story of manned space flight from its beginnings to the present day. The exhibition combines art, science and history, and is ideal for individuals, families and schools,” he continues, adding that it has become a tradition at JVS Group that they ask every guest to share their opinion on the show they had seen and to recommend themes and subjects for exhibitions they would be eager to see in the future. “Gaining input from such interactions, it turns out that people would be very

interested to see a well-built and highly informative exhibition on WWII.”

Concert shows Zsuzsanna highlights that in addition to exhibitions, JVS Group also specializes in organizing concerts.

“On June 6 this year, the Hungarian audience saw ‘Elvis - The Wonder of You,’ featuring the most recognizable voice of all time with a full symphony orchestra live, performing the King of Rock ’n Roll most well-known songs. The concert was highlighted with the presence of Priscilla Presley. On October 16, the Star Wars in Concert was staged at the Papp László Sport Arena. Ennio Morricone gave a frenetic concert in 2017 and he will return to Budapest in 2019 on January 23. The 90-yearold Morricone has shortlisted six of his favorite cities to perform his 90th Jubilee Exclusive Concert series, accompanied by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. It is an honor to have him in Budapest for his very last stage appearance,” Zsuzsanna says. “This year’s repertoire’s last element is the Royal Moscow Ballet, presenting Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake on December 3.” Zsuzsanna and Dániel believe that their efforts of bringing unique events to Budapest contribute to the development of the cultural life of the Hungarian capital.

“We shall maintain our market leader position to continue educating and entertaining. Knowing that Prague so far has performed a little better, we should work 24/7 to change this trend, and maybe raise the 5% ratio of our foreign visitors.”

INSIDE EVERY MUMMY IS A STORY WAITING TO BE TOLD The exhibition that opened in Budapest on August 16, is a real world sensation.

Most people, when hearing the word ‘Mummies’ think of Egypt - and Egypt only. At this exhibition they will have the opportunity to discover mummies from all over the world. Mummies of the World portrays real mummies and artifacts from Europe, South America, and Ancient Egypt. Portraying both natural and intentional mummification, this collection includes ancient mummies dating back as far as 4,500 years. Bodies and artefacts are borrowed from a number of museums, universities, academic and private collections.

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what's on XMAS FAIRS IN TOWN

MULTIPLE VENUES IN BUDAPEST, UNTIL THE FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY, 2019 Christmas lights, joyful holiday atmosphere is waiting for you at many of the most beautiful squares of Budapest. Stroll around the cottage-style wooden stalls with a mug of mulled wine at Vörösmarty Square, and visit St. Stephen’s Square, where an ice skatingrink is set in front of the Basilica, surrounded by a number of vendors selling Christmas-themed arts and crafts, mulled wine, pálinka and other tasty fares. Városháza Square and the Danube Corso in front of the Marriott Hotel will also feature stalls and vendors, in District 5.

MONSIEUR DOMANI CONCERT

DECEMBER 9, MÜPA Monsieur Domani have achieved almost unparalleled success in world music. The Cypriot trio have no need for influential agents or record companies and have little interest in musical trends, yet are still earning rave reviews. After the release of their debut album, Grippy Grappa, in 2013, they were dubbed 'Best Newcomer Group' by Songlines magazine, which also awarded them the prize for 'Best European Group' for Sikoses, released two years later. Their true breakthrough, however, came with the 2018 Angathin, which has enjoyed three months at the top of influential music charts like the Transglobal World Music Chart and the World Music Charts Europe. The songs of Monsieur Doumani became the most played across European world music radio stations in the spring of 2018.

The group, who have been together since 2011, initially played folk music covers, but their latest album mainly consists of self-written songs. Angelos Ionas plays acoustic guitar, Antonis Antoniou the tzouras (a type of bouzouki) and Demetris Yiasemides the trombone.

Their sound is very much their own. The lead is taken by the tzouras, providing a musical rhythm, which recalls urban Greek folk music, particularly contemporary rebetiko. The fact that the members of the trio once played in rock and jazz bands also shines through in their music. Their songs are not just fresh but incredibly varied, as well as featuring a certain prickliness which reflects the political and economic tension in divided Cyprus. www.mupa.hu

IL VOLO CONCERT

DECEMBER 10 AT PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA In 2009, three fresh-faced teenagers, tenors Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and baritone Gianluca Ginoble appeared on the popular Italian talent show ‘Ti Lascio Una Canzone’ and dazzled television viewers with their flawless rendition of ‘O Sole Mio’. Originally ‘I Tre Tenorini’, the group’s name was later changed to Il Volo meaning “flight,” to signify they were about to spread their wings and fly. In just a few years, the trio have performed worldwide, toured with legends such as Barbara Streisand and sang with Eros Ramazotti, Anastacia and Plácidó Domingo. They contributed to the 2010 charity single ‘We Are the World 25 for Haiti’, a rendition of the 1985 hit ‘We Are the World’. In 2010 the group recorded their debut, self-titled album in the Abbey Road Studios in London, England, which featured the national and international numbers ‘Il mondo’, ‘Un amore cosí grande’, and Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Smile’. Issued by Geffen Records in November 2010 the record peaked at No. 6 on the Italian Albums Chart, which signified their mainstream breakthrough. At their first concert in Budapest, the award-winning operatic pop trio will be accompanied by the Óbuda Danubia Orchestra, conducted by Marcello Rota. www.budapestarena.hu

DECEMBER 9 IN BUDAPEST This annual community jog does not draw the crowds that the major marathons do, however it is a lot more spectacular, especially when it comes to the outfits of the joggers: sneakers, Santa hats, Speedos and bikinis only. The craze began in Boston, USA, in 2000, in an effort to raise money for charity.

Since then, similar events have been held around the globe, including Budapest. This year, participants will gather at Gozsdu Yard, downtown, and make their way to Városliget (City Park) where they will crown their efforts by collectively jumping in the hot baths at Széchenyi Spa. The funds raised this year will support the Magic Lamp Foundation. www.mikulaskocogas.hu

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HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM, UNTIL JANUARY 31, 2019 From 1st century AD, the Western part of what is now Hungary belonged to a province named Pannonia of the Roman Empire. The final heyday of Pannonia in 4th century AD was characterized by huge manors and luxurious villas located in the countryside. Their owners belonged to the rich elite of the empire.

One of them was named Seuso, whose silver tableware is now exhibited at the Hungarian National Museum. The Seuso treasure is well-known in the world due to its unrivalled beauty and cultural significance, as well as a number of criminal activities attached to history. The treasure itself was found by a young man in the 1975 in Kőszárhegy, near Lake Balaton, but soon he was killed and the treasure disappeared. When it reappeared at the international auction market in the 1980s, only fake documentations tried to prove its origin so it could not been sold. Lawsuits, scandals and unsuccessful auctions marked the last 25 years of the treasure’s modern history. In 2017, the Hungarian State fınally came to an agreement with the person possessing it and all the 15 pieces (worth EUR 28 million) were repatriated to Hungary. www.mnm.hu

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THE SEUSO TREASURE

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what's on GALA CONCERT OF THE 100 MEMBER GIPSY ORCHESTRA

DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM, ÁKOS STILLER, WEEGEE - ANDY WARHOL AND WEEGEE/N. D. © COURTESY INSTITUTE FOR CULTURAL EXCHANGE GERMANY 2018

DECEMBER 30, BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTER Every year on December 30, the world famous 100 Member Gipsy Orchestra presents a grandiose concert at the Budapest Congress Center, as part of the MUSIC-WINE Festival. The uniqueness of the event lies in the folk show and wine tasting where the audience gets the chance to meet the best wine-makers. Guests seated on the ground floor can enjoy dinner, snacks and wine while listening to Liszt, Strauss and Khachaturian pieces in the interpretation of the Hungarian Heritage Prize winner orchestra which, since its foundation in 1985, has held over a thousand concerts in the world’s most famous concert halls, proving the artistic value of Hungarian and Gipsy culture and folklore. www.argosart.hu

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

DECEMBER 26 BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTER The tradition of Christmas concerts by the Festival Orchestra dates back to 1983: that year, the Liszt Academy was available only during the holidays, providing an opportunity for the ensemble to make its debut. Almost every year since then, the BFO has treated audiences to a unique holiday concert at the end of December. The series is set to continue this year, and members of the audience will have a say in what ends up on the program that evening. They will get to determine the line-up from a musical menu offering a broad selection of flavors. “This concert is like a present, all wrapped up. It is like when a child announces ahead of time what they would like for Christmas, but at the same time, of course, they also want to be surprised,” says the host of the holiday concert, Iván Fischer.

The Festival Orchestra may be the only symphony ensemble in the world whose musicians play orchestra pieces, contemporary and baroque chamber music, and jazz as well as folk music. They can also sing, and in some cases, even dance. Like all BFO concerts, this concert of classical music will be exciting and unusual, but also celebratory. Iván Fischer, of course, has several secret presents up in his sleeves for the audience that night. www.bfz.hu

WEEGEE, THE FAMOUS, 1935-1960

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MAI MANÓ HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY UNTIL JANUARY 20, 2019 This exhibition features 104 of the best photos of press photographer Arthur Fellig, known as ‘Weegee’, whose name, in the 1930s and 1940s, was closely associated with New York City and whose photos were published in such periodicals as the PM Daily, The Herald Tribune, The Sun and the Daily Mirror. In a society distressed by economic and mental depression, Weegee confronted his viewers with loneliness, poverty and crime. At the same time, he showed moments of beauty and happiness, which were also parts of life in the Lower East Side, Harlem and the Bowery. In addition to documenting life in the modern city, the photos also reveal much of Weegee himself, whose character and life pervade every image. “I had got the famous pictures of a violent era, the pictures that all the great papers with all their resources couldn’t get, and had to buy from me. And in shooting these pictures, I also had photographed the soul of the city I knew and loved,” he once said. www.maimano.hu

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J INGLE & MIN G L E AT P E P P E R S ! M E D I T E R R A N E A N G R I L L Spend the most magical part of the year with a month-long celebration at peppers! Mediterranean Grill. Discover all the heart-warming events and heavenly meals created just for you.

ADVENT BRUNCHES Visit peppers! Mediterranean Grill restaurant on Advent Sundays to pamper your family and friends with a fine fare of delectable appetizers, lavish main courses, succulent traditional Christmas roasts and various must have specials of the season.

CHRISTMAS EVE BUFFET DINNER Enjoy Christmas Eve without any struggles in the kitchen, surprize your loved ones with the finest meals of the festive season. Be enchanted by the spectacular buffet selection and the breathtaking panorama; celebrate with style in the peppers! Mediterranean Grill.

N E W Y E A R ’ S E V E C E L E B R AT I O N Enjoy Christmas Eve without any struggles in the kitchen, surprize your loved ones with the finest meals of the festive season. Be enchanted by the spectacular buffet selection and the breathtaking panorama; celebrate with style in the peppers! Mediterranean Grill.

For further information and reservations, please contuct us on +36 1 737 7377, reservations@peppers.hu or visit www.peppers.hu. peppers! @ Budapest Marriott Hotel | H-1052 Budapest, Apáczai Csere J. u. 4. www.marriottbudapest.com

Wolf András Executive Chef

Salon Restaurant New York Palace BUDAPEST 1073, Erzsébet krt. 9/11 Tel.: +36 1 886 6167 reservation@salonrestaurant.hu www.salonrestaurant.hu

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gastronomy

ADDRESS: 1056 Budapest, Nyáry Pál utca 9.

E-MAIL: reservations@rajkotpalace.com TEL.: +36 70 634 8600

RAJKOT PALACE INDIAN CUISINE AT ITS BEST

Rajkot Palace is a contemporary Indian restaurant offering fine dining experience in Budapest’s District 5. The restaurant presents a menu of traditional and contemporary Indian cuisine, continuously endeavoring to improve the purest traditional Indian cuisine, while simultaneously creating innovative, modern dishes. The core of the menu is traditional cuisine from the vast culinary regions of India that features the most celebrated elements of Indian cooking techniques, with appetizers and tasting menus that reflect Rajkot Palace's modern interpretations.

The wine selection focuses on grape varieties that best compliment the colorful and flavorful Indian cuisine. The service style emphasizes hospitality with a knowledgeable, technically proficient staff who are present yet unobtrusive. The result is a vibrant and trendsetting scene, full of energy and sophistication. Rajkot Palace is a place of gathering, a place of celebration, a place for business and a place for pleasure.

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DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

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2018. 11. 26. 10:33:50