According to htcc.org, Szabolcs Kutasi, the trade promotion manager of the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC) was the exclusive guest of the Buday Business Club (BBC) on the 30th of November, 2016.
Szabolcs Kutasi’s lecture was titled “global market opportunities and the increase of export capacity” and – among others – he talked about how he joined HTCC one and a half years ago. Since then HTCC has been running ten representations all over the world with the mission to encourage the export opportunities and foreign investments of Hungarian enterprises and to facilitate their adaptation to the local business environment.
He added that HTCC now has business relations in several countries over the world and it is an especially familiar name in Africa, where they don’t only focus on the business world, but also on cultural activities. HTCC has come to represent a significant economic and cultural lobby power, which can be interpreted as the acknowledgement of their activities till now. He also mentioned the company’s recent successes: he touched upon successful networking and the first exact business successes besides the opening of the newest offices.
Many were interested in the lecture, which was followed by a matterful discussion, in which Szabolcs Kutasi was able to present HTTC’s effective facilitation and the key to succes through great examples and situations.
According to htcc.org, the football club supported by the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC) is called Future Stars FC. It is a quite new but promising women’s football team.
“There were only three female football players when the club was founded. This happened in last April, since when we managed to establish a 34 member team in the Margaret Island Athletics Centre with determination, hard work and the help of Sándor Balogh, the founder of HTCC” said Steve Yeboah, the manager of Future Stars.
The players participate in two leagues. The big field team is currently the second in the Budapest Cup, while the other team, the 3/4 field is currently in the last place. All 34 players get the chance to prove worthy, after which the players performing better get into the N°1 team and everybody else into the second team.
The majority of the players are Hungarians, but there are also African and Romanian players. The youngest player is 16 years old, while the oldest is 42 years old.
4.2 million people reached every month, thousands of subscribers – High School introduced a new genre to the world of internet starting out from Hungary.Globoport.hu writes that the online series went on with making the Romanian and Russian versions of High School, all with the help of the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC). The Russian series was presented to the press in the Café 57 restaurant on Pusztaszeri Road.
Theteam of High School started shooting the episodes of the Russian series after achieving great successes in Hungary and Romania. The story is basically the same, but it is adopted to local conditions. Naturally, the characters are played by different actors in different ways. But all characters have their “twins”, for instance, Krisztosz, the shouting P.E. teacher is played by Andrej Molotkov, a Russian actor of merit, and is named Sergej in the series.
He also came to the Hungarian premiere and played a shouting contest with his Hungarian colleague. It turned out to be a tie. But the Hungarian Barbi’s Russian equivalent, actress pupil Julija Krilova, who is the student of Andrej Molotkov at the university, also attended the premiere along with other stars of the series. They are planning to start the promotion of the series in Russia after 2-3 episodes. However, it seems like Средняя школа, launched on the 30th of October, is already a success among the Russian youth.
Dr Róbert Richárd Kiss, the editor-in-chief of the Globoport Media Holding company group registering High School, talked about YouTube’s role as a form of orientation for young adults. While most adults believe that the television is still the leading source of information, YouTube stars are much more popular among teenagers than television stars. They realised a very important thing: future generations can be reached with different contents, in different ways. The new generation can be reached through YouTube and social media sites. This is how the High School brand was created with the series, kozepsuli.hu, Instagram, Facebook and Ask.fm. All together these represent a very powerful brand. The same brand is being built in Romania and Russia.
Dr Róbert Richárd Kiss
Ferenc Mázár, representing Sándor Balogh, the father of the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC), said that the aim of HTCC offices is to help Hungarian companies enter foreign markets all over the world. This Hungarian brand, which is not a simply soap opera but also a social experience for teenagers, was launched in Russia with their help and OTP Bank’s partnership. He said that they weren’t expecting miracles, but they are sure that the series will be a great success among the Russian youth in a year’s time.
After Mexico and Washington, another Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre is going to be opened on the American continent in the immediate future. According to baloghsandor.com, the contract concerning the Sarasota HTCC was signed on Wednesday in the centre of the Budapest HTCC.
The agreement about the newest HTCC representation in Florida is the result of long negotiations. The representatives of the Florida International Chamber of Commerce (FICOC), who will help with the opening of the office, came to Budapest to sign the papers.
The activities of HTCC were introduced to the guests by Szabolcs Kutasi, HTCC’s trade promotion manager and Zsuzsanna Orzói, AHU’s protocol chief. The work of the American chamber was presented by Attila Töttösi, who emphasised that they have recently opened an office in Budapest, which is led by Miklós Andrássy. The representation aims to strengthen and facilitate the establishment of economic relations in Middle Europe.
The agreement was signed by Ádám Szerbin, the managing director of HTCC and Peter Harris, the managing director of FICOC. Sándor Balogh, the president of HTCC, believes that the Sarasota HTCC house is a perfect opportunity for investors, and a new gate to American markets.
After a day of relaxation, they already started their work. The 10-years-old African-Hungarian Union’s 14th medical mission to Africa took on new tasks – this time Hungarian doctors will also execute operations: primarily ear operations and other head-neck surgical interventions. There is a big need in Malawi for these kind of actions, because there is only one otorhinolaryngologist in the whole country.
The work of the doctors will be helped by the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre in Malawi, while Amplifon Kft. supports the mission from home trough providing hearing aids and money. The members of the mission were welcomed by the director of the HTCC house in Malawi, Csaba Szeremley, who gave them some useful advices.
The 10-years-old African-Hungarian Union (AHU) is now the biggest civil organisation in Middle Europe to be occupied with international relief and development. Their flagships are primarily the missions and programmes coordinated to give medical and humanitarian assistance with the main goal of healing and the moderation of the critical lack of medical workers in the developing countries.
According to the report at the National Press Service (OS), AHU starts its 14thmedical mission to Africa (they’ve attended to more than 40 thousand patients so far), but this is going to be a really special one. This mission requires a more profound preparation than ever, because the participants of the mission are experienced professors who are going to execute special operations.
The preparations before the mission started last year, when the doctors of AHU’s first Malawi mission visited Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, where they got to know the hospital’s otorhinolaryngologist, who is the only otorhinolaryngologist in Malawi. So AHU is starting a special surgery mission to support and relieve his work. The voluntary team of doctors will primarily execute ear operations during the mission, and other head-neck surgical interventions. Besides their practice, the Hungarian doctors will also train their Malawi colleague in an informal way.
Listed below are the experts who take part in this special mission:
Professor Dr Imre Gerlinger, Ph.D. med. habil. university professor, the professor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the director of the Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgical Clinic of the University of Pécs.
Professor Dr Gábor Katona, Ph.D. the candidate of medical sciences, titular university professor, the member of the Otorhinolaryngology Professional College, the president of the Children’s Otorhinolaryngology section at the Association of Hungarian Otorhinolaryngologists, and the head of department chief physician of Heim Pál Children Hospital’s Otorhinolaryngology Department.
Dr Judit Bodnár, anaesthetist – intensive therapy specialist.
Dr Illés Balogh, otorhinolaryngologist practitioner.
Dr Edina Pálinkás, candidate otorhinolaryngology specialist.
The work of the doctors’ mission will be helped by AHU’s partner organisation, the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC) in Malawi.
At the invitation of General Dr El Habib Marzak, the main trustee of Moroccan King Mohammed VI, the joint delegation of HTCC, AHU and ETALON negotiated about the potential participation of the ETALON horse show at next year’s Salon du Cheval. Htcc.hu writes that the world’s most illustrious horse race aims to introduce the whole world’s horse culture to the local audience, so they invite thousand equestrians of more than thirty country every year. Showing something unique is quite a hard task there, but Hungarians managed to attract attention again.
The delegation, led by Hungarian Ambassador to Rabat Dr Miklós Tromler, got the chance to visit the royal riding-hall. The professional chief of the modern institution, Sir Badr Fakir, presented the establishments of the Royal Equestrian Federation: the British-system barns, the modern practicing and racing tracks, the veterinary examiner appliances and the pasture stocks.
The federation inaugurated a new establishment recently, in which they keep and attend to the horses of different clubs and private individuals in exchange for some money.
Director Chrifi Alaoui showed the establishments, the practicing tracks, the training equipment and the schedule of the 160 parlour-border in the educational centre. The opportunity of cooperation was itroduced and its conditions will be worked out soon.
The next day the delegation visited El Jadida, the location of the Salon du Cheval event. General Marzak appointed an escort who accompanied and helped the delegation during the programmes. For instance, the delegation visited the establishment inaugurated last year, the exhibition and horse events as VIP guests.
With the leading of Hungarian Ambassador to Rabat Dr Miklós Tromler the delegation held negotiations with General Marzak and his colleague regarding the opportunity of Hungarian participation next year. The discussion ended quite promisingly. ETALON needs to work out a minimum and maximum programme, which includes special Hungarian performances, so that the organisational committee can choose from them.
Next up, the delegation watched the ancient Moroccan horse show called Tbourida. It was a great honour that the delegation was placed in the VIP tent of Royal Prince Moulay Hassan Abdallah, where they could watch the popular show.
The programme ended with the horse gala show in the evening. Also, it’s worth emphasizing that even though Hungary didn’t participate at the event this year, the Hungarian flag flapped among the flags of the participating countries. Moreover, some spectacular moments of last year’s Hungarian performance had significant places in the teaser of the horse show.
The 10-year-old African-Hungarian Union (AHU) is the guest of honour at this year’s Oktoberfest in Budapest. Globoport.hu writes that the programmes of Saturday, the 1st of October, will be pervaded by the African atmosphere as AHU welcomes visitors with an Africa Day at Ötvenhatosok Square.
The African-Hungarian Union celebrates its 10th birthday and the last stop of the birthday programme series is the Oktoberfest. Besides having fun, one of AHU’s main goals is to change the perception that lives in people’s heads about Africa being a continent of war, diseases and poverty.
“We want the Hungarian audience to think of Africa as a developing world, which will be the economic engine of the upcoming decades” said Sándor Balogh, the president of AHU. They will welcome visitors in the Paulaner tent with fun programmes and concerts at the beer festival, which will be twice as big as last year’s.
There will be kids’ stations, face painting, handicraft workshops, African braiding, sand statue making, dance and drum teaching and Africa quiz until 4 pm. Then Abdoul Camara, Sengalese dancer and the Serengeti Troupe Band, whose members came to Hungary from Tanzania, take on the stage. Gaby and Alain boost the evening with Cameroonian dance and drum show, while Mr. President, who is very proud of his African roots, will be performing at 8pm. The German eurodance band became famous in 1996 with Coco Jambo.
So if you like beer and/or are interested in Africa, and having fun, visit Oktoberfest on Saturday! The main sponsor of the event is HTCC, the Hungarian Trade & Cultural centre.
The planting project aims to establish a 2000 km green area from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad. The idea originates from Dr. József Steier, globoport.hu writes.
French scientists have discovered that the Sahara desert was completely green 10 million years ago. This idea inspired József Steier’s Green Sahara project. There have been previous planting projects in Africa, and there are drought-tolerant species suitable for this purpose. However, planting a small amount of trees is an ineffective solution because animals feed on them and people harvest them quickly.
The Green Sahara project will move from cell to cell starting at the Atlantic Ocean and moving towards the desert in a 2000-2500 km long, wedge shaped green area, arriving at Lake Chad. One cell is 25 square kilometres big. Depending on its size, one green cell can generate enough vacuum to draw rain clouds above the area. It lowers atmospheric pressure and forces the water vapour to move inland instead of pouring down on the north of the continent.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/african-hungarian-union-10-years-old-interview-sandor-balogh/” color=”lightblue” newwindow=”yes”] The African-Hungarian Union is 10 years old – Interview with Sándor Balogh[/button]
The cells will contain not only trees but other plants as well. Millet, sorghum, chilli, and vegetables will contribute to the food supply of the local population. One of the trees chosen for the project is the so called emerald tree (Smaragdfa) hybrid species, which can grow 3 cm in a day under ideal conditions, and it can sustain on a certain concentration of seawater as well. It can convert ten times as much carbon-dioxide as other species, and its leaves are also edible. The emerald tree’s only disadvantage is its high water requirement, which can be halved by a Hungarian root-watering invention.
It is not yet known when the Green Sahara project will begin. József Steier’s project wants to unite African, European and American economic and environmental interests to combat the issues at hand.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/new-hungarian-trade-cultural-center-open-morocco/” color=”lightblue” newwindow=”yes”] New Hungarian Trade and Cultural Center to open in Morocco[/button]
József Steier learnt about Africa at the age of 10, when his father was working in Guinea as an expert, and he fell in love with the continent’s complex cultures. He is a pioneer in autogas technology and network development in Hungary. He became vice-president, then president of the Esztergom energetics association, then worked for the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where he founded the energetics department. He is the head of the Hungarian Trade and Cultural Center in Morocco.
The air fleet of Air Ocean Maroc has just been expanded as a new aeroplane joined the company. It is perfect for tours through the desert and gives a great opportunity for passengers to get amazed by the magnificent view of the oases of the South, reports htcc.org.hu.
One of the keys to the dynamic development of Morocco seems to be Marrakesh: it is among the most significant cities of the country, tourists from all around the world travel there to get familiar with the culture and arts, including the traditional architecture of Morocco. Their number keeps on increasing, and more and more businessmen appear to visit Marrakesh.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/the-htcc-keeps-on-succeeding-in-morocco/” color=”silver” newwindow=”yes”] Great successes of the HTCC in Morocco[/button]
No wonder then that the Hungarian Trade and Cultural Center opened an office there. By now HTCC cooperates with the Hungarian National Trading House in order to help Hungarian companies and their products to enter the region’s market.
The constant improvement now requires the broadening of services that are ideal for passengers and delegates on business duties. Therefore, Air Ocean Maroc invested in a King Air 200 aeroplane, the “king of small planes”, suitable to transport a delegation of 8 people.
Thus, according to HTCC, the spectacular sand dunes of the desert are far easier to access, and so is Dakhla, the gate of the South. The journeys, whether private or business, usually took 2-3 days by car earlier, but from now on they can be easily done within one day by plane.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/htcc-participated-in-the-6th-hungarians-world-meeting/” color=”silver” newwindow=”yes”] The HTCC participated in the 6th Hungarian’s World Meeting[/button]
Further areas of the country become accessible by flights of 1-2 hours this way, which is especially preferable for Hungarian businessmen also, as their partnerships, for example with Dakhla, have majorly improved recently.
The number of Hungarian delegations was significant this year too, however, they had to take really long journeys either there, by a scheduled plane with transfers, or to some other point of the country, which was then followed by a long car-drive.
Prices are designed to match the exclusivity of the new service, therefore, a journey to Marrakesh by the King Air 200 of Air Ocean Maroc costs 4-800 EUR per individual passenger.
The 1st of September marks the day when HTCC’s new representation started its work in Mexico City. According to htcc.org.hu, this office in the capital city of the United Mexican States is an outstandingly important step in the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre’s global networking process. The Mexican office, being the 10th HTCC representation in the world, is not only of symbolic significance as after the African and Asian representations, this is the first office on the American continent to help the trade activity of HTCC partners.
Mexico is the country of the most dynamically developing economy in the Hispanic Latin-American world. According to Sándor Balogh, the founder of HTCC, with its 130 million market and its effect on the countries of the Latin-American world, Mexico fills a part which made the presence of HTCC reasonable in itself. Moreover, Mexico is also the member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) alongside Canada and the USA.
The economic and trade processes have sped up in the last years between Hungary and Mexico. Mexico is open to the expanding of trade and other relations with Hungary and the members of the European Union. Hungarian enterprises are also starting to discover the Mexican market. HTCC helps Hungarian enterprises to successful enter the Mexican market through its partners, logistic services, business trips, market information and the organisation of B2B meetings.
For decades, the name of Szerencs was synonymous with Hungarian chocolate production, globoport.hu writes. It’s not a coincidence that the National Chocolate Festival was held here this year for the ninth time. But there hasn’t been a chocolate factory in the town for several years – until now.
In the past, Szerencs was famous for its chocolate, but unfortunately this only meant a tradition in the past. The changing of the political system brought about the decline of chocolate production, and all that was left in the town was the expertise, the enthusiasm, and the chocolate festival. The festival has since expanded, with programmes for the whole family. Sports days for the schools of the county and a chocolate adventure park entertained the kids, while the adults could enjoy the concerts of Hungarian bands, among other programmes.
However, the most important aspect of Szerencs is still the chocolate, which now returns to the town in the form of the Szerencs Confectionary Ltd. Their first truly unconventional product, which still follows Hungarian traditions, is the Dobos chocolate, which was inspired by the flavour combinations of the famous Dobos cake.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/tag/gastronomy/” type=”big” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Read more articles about Hungarian food[/button]
The new owner of the company, businessman Sándor Balogh, head of the 10-year-old African Hungarian Union, and Transylvanian chocolatier Dezső Gálffi plan to restore the company to its former glory.
The company would like to enter the international markets with products which complement the traditional Szerencs product range, while remaining characteristically Hungarian. Thus these quality artisan products will appear as specialties in other parts of the world. The Dobos chocolate already has a milk chocolate, a dark chocolate, and a white chocolate version.
A new Hungarian Trade and Cultural Center (HTCC) will open in Marrakesh, Kingdom of Morocco, to help small and medium-sized Hungarian enterprises with their advance on the market. The contract was signed on Friday, htcc.org.hu reports.
Morocco will be the fourth African country in the HTCC’s network of offices. Hungary’s so called policy of opening to the south was announced last year, and one of its main destinations is Africa.
“This collaboration allows us to use the network of the Hungarian National Trading House (MNKH), and thus Hungarian-Moroccan relations can develop much more dynamically. Morocco is the gateway to Africa, and this collaboration, to which the HTCC lends years of experience, while the MNKH brings its background, can be successful, and it can serve the Hungarian opening to the south very effectively,” said Dr. József Steier, head of the Moroccan HTCC house.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/category/business/” type=”big” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Read more news about BUSINESS[/button]
The African-Hungarian Union (AHU) was founded 10 years ago in Budapest. 10 years in the life of a non-profit organisation is a long time, and many do not manage to last a decade, either for lack of money, or what is worse, lack of enthusiasm. Yet the AHU seems more energetic than ever. Globoport.hu has asked AHU president Sándor Balogh about their secret.
Photo: globoport.hu
Globoport: Hungary does not have a colonial past, there is no significant African community in the country, and when the AHU was founded, relations with Africa were at their lowest. What inspired you to start a non-profit organisation focusing on Africa?
Sándor Balogh: Particularly this lack of information, which is so characteristic of Hungarian society. Hungarians basically have two equally false ideas about Africa. One is that “there are wars going on there”, and “people are starving there”, so it is a bad place that’s not worth visiting. Quite often even those who visit the tourist resorts are regarded as though they were brave adventurers, even though they were welcomed by services of European quality and many friendly faces. The other, romanticised image originates from nature documentaries that make it seem like there are no people living on the whole continent, only cute animals. What was missing 10 years ago was the portrayal of the authentic, living, human side of Africa, a continent which is far from idyllic, has its own, often serious issues, but is not entirely defined by wars and famine, and where the majority of the population is working, living their lives, and always striving to get a bit further ahead.
G: After 10 years, are you satisfied? Has your goal been accomplished?
SB: We can never be satisfied, but many things have changed, partly due to the progression of the world. Today Africa is present in public discourse, even if not necessarily in a positive context, and more and more people feel like it’s worth talking about, since they feel like the events there can directly affect us, too. And we have done a lot to help people see past the stereotypes. An important milestone was the creation of the African Database, where practically all scientific materials regarding Africa are freely available for those interested. And we have found that people are indeed downloading and reading these works. We appear in the media, partly on our own platforms, partly in big national newspapers, on television, and to mention another milestone, we also have launched our own courses with the help of the best experts on African studies. It is a recognition of our work that less than a month ago an Africa-group has been formed at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
G: Still, nowadays most of the news about Africa focus on the refugee crisis. Your organisation is in a peculiar situation: you’re representing Africa, but you’re speaking from a Hungarian point of view. Do you sense contradiction, tension regarding this issue?
SB: Not at all. I do not think Hungary’s and Africa’s interests differ in this question. The refugee crisis made it all the more topical what we have been talking about for a decade. There is huge potential in Africa, in every respect. If developments can begin, if African economies can get a boost, that is going to positively affect the whole world, since huge new market will appears where even those goods and services will be needed which are in an abundance in the developed world. At the same time, if we abandon Africa, if things take a turn for the worse, either because of climate change, or ethnic and religion conflicts, then this huge potential can become a huge destabilising force. Of course, the progression of the world will not be defined by non-profit organisations like us, but Hungary, as a developed country – as strange as that sounds, Hungary is a developed country –, and as a member of the European Union can in fact do much good to help Africa on the right path, so those living there will feel like it is worth staying, it is worth developing their homeland, the land of their ancestors, because it will produce results. And we are really glad that what we are saying is being listened to on many levels, since the government’s policy of opening to the south is exactly about establishing stronger ties with regions outside Europe which will benefit both parties.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/tag/africa/” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Get more news about AFRICA[/button]
Photo: globoport.hu
G: I’m guessing this involves changing your own strategy as well. What is the next step for the African-Hungarian Union?
SB: After spreading general information, we would like to focus on specific fields. After 10 years of work, we know our strengths. One of the fields we will concentrate on is health care. We’ve been looking for a place where a permanent base can be established for Hungarian health care professionals who want to educate themselves on tropical diseases, gain experience working in the field, and who are, of course, motivated to help others. As it stands, we seem to have found the right place in Uganda, where a medical centre is opening with Hungarian help. This involves not only a lot of organisation and volunteer work, but donations as well, which we are also working on. The other [field we focus on], in collaboration with the Hungarian Trade and Cultural Center, is giving advisory services and building connections for those who want to contribute to the development of Africa. The aforementioned dynamic development is a double-sided matter: on the one hand, it creates huge opportunities for small and medium-sized Hungarian enterprises, on the other hand these are appealing circumstances for any adventurer. Our experiences and local knowledge can help those Hungarians who are motivated to work abroad, to navigate between opportunities and dangers, and achieve their goals.
G: Do you think that in 10 years’ time you will still be talking about Africa?
SB: Absolutely. Once you’re captivated by Africa, it doesn’t let you go. Africa is a love of a lifetime, and there is so much left to do.
According to their website, the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Center (HTCC) recently opened a new representative office in India, thus, expanding their presence all around the world.
As we wrote earlier, the HTCC keeps on succeeding and growing its presence in the world and now with the opening of their new representative office, they can be found in ten countries, including Ghana, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and China.
The latest office was opened recently in an independent country of Southern Asia, the 7th largest and the 2nd most populated country on the Earth, which is none other than the Republic of India. It is often regarded a subcontinent, and through its history has become a country of culturally diverse values.
India in our day and age has achieved amazing achievements: according to its GDP it has the world’s 12th biggest economy, but if calculating based on the purchasing power, it is the 4th. Furthermore, the reforms of the last decade had made India the world’s 2nd most quickly expanding economy.
[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/tag/htcc/” type=”big” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Read more news about HTCC [/button]
The new representative office of the HTCC is led by Rajiv Arora, local businessman, and importantly the office’s address is 25, Gujranwala Town, Part 2, Delhi 110009 India. Moreover, via e-mail they can be contacted at the following address: in***@ht**.hu.
Also, as they have begun promising conferences with several of their partners in India, hopefully, further business successes are to come soon.
Besides the leaders of AHU and the Moroccan HTCC, Charafat Afailal and Noureddine Benomar, Moroccan Ambassador to Hungary, both said that this meeting was of key importance. Hungary and Hungarian technical developments (like water insulation) can help a lot in the solving of Morocco’s problems. Please watch the Globo TV’s video with english subtitle:
Water is very important in the gate of Africa. And Hungary is the land of water. According to globoport.hu, the Moroccan Minister of Water and the president of the African-Hungarian Union (AHU) talked about the two countries’ promising cooperation.
Morocco Minister of Water, Charafat Afailal, came to spend two days in Budapest at the invitation of the Hungarian Ministry of Interior. The parties made a contract so that joined projects can go on uninterruptedly.
The African-Hungarian Union (AHU) and Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC) in Morocco play a key role in this process. Sándor Balogh, president of AHU, and József Steier, director of the Moroccan HTCC were the ones representing the Hungarian side at the conference table.
From the left: Noureddine Benomar and Charafat Afailal
Water is very important in Morocco and the problems caused by global warming, which they have already talked about at the Climate Conference in Paris, are quite intriguing in the African country. The discussion will be continued on the 28th of November at the Budapest Water Summit.
Hungary and Hungarian technical developments (like water insulation) can help a lot in the solving of Morocco’s problems. This is exactly the type of innovation that two members of the delegation who came with the minister were looking for.
Besides the leaders of AHU and the Moroccan HTCC, Charafat Afailal and Noureddine Benomar, Moroccan Ambassador to Hungary, both said that this meeting was of key importance. The ambassador emphasized how optimistic he was concerning the future of Moroccan-Hungarian relations. The minister believes that the two countries could also help each other with further developments.
Globoport.hu writes that the 5th Industrialization and Innovation Forum was held in Khartoum last week. It was organised by Sudan’s Ministry of Industry with the cooperation of industrial chambers and the UNIDO. Hungary was represented by Péter Orosz, the network development director of the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC).
After South Sudan’s detachment in July, 2011 – due to the considerable loss of paraffin backups that meant the biggest income of the federal budget – Sudan soon had to realise that they had to diversify their economy and concentrate on production and modernisation besides the exploitation of remaining natural resources. Moreover, the improvement of competitiveness, the restoration of investors’ trust and the importance of attracting foreign capital were put into focus. These processes taking place in Sudan could signify great opportunities for Hungarian companies as well.
The two-day long event was opened by President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, who talked about the importance of innovations, industrialization and offshore investments. Philippe Scholtés, the managing director of UNIDO, was also present at the event along with several Sudanese front-benchers, the regent of the Sudanese Central Bank and the prominent figures of local economic and business life.
The side of the investors was mainly represented by business men and diplomats from the Middle East and Asia, who got to know the most attractive local projects and sectors. The presentations were mostly about the structural build-up of Sudan’s foreign affairs, the products that define Sudan’s export and import, the most important values produced in agriculture and industry, current projects and the potential they hold.
HTCC business partners’ interests were represented by Péter Orosz at the business and protocol negotiations, who got the chance to present the activity of the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre and the African-Hungarian Union (AHU). He had conversations with economic delegations and business men, like the Belorussian Deputy Minister of Industry Korchik Dmitrij Alexandrovich, UNIDO’s managing director Philippe Scholtés and the main advisor of President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir. At the press conference, held at end of the forum, he thanked the invitation and cooperation of the Sudanese Embassy in Budapest and the exemplary work and hospitality of the organisers. He said that the forum was an eye-opener, as he became to realise how Sudan is a country full of potential, and he hopes that this was the beginning of a long and matterful cooperation.
