On July 7 at 18:30 the deputy police chief of Baghlan Province informed the commander of the HDF Provincial Reconstruction Team (HUN PRT) stationed in Afghanistan that a magnetic improvised explosive device (IED) had been emplaced on a tanker truck on the main road in the town of Pol-e Khumri, 2.5 kilometers from Camp Pannonia. Press release.
Continental Automotive Hungary will create 150 new jobs in the town of Veszprém. The company has extended its manufacturing floor space by virtue of a project worth HUF 2.8 billion which was inaugurated on Friday. The Government supported the job-creating project with HUF 512 million from the resources of the New Széchenyi Plan. The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics.
On June 26 a conference was organized on the readiness level of the battalion-sized HDF Infantry Battle Group (IBG) – a unit preparing for a NATO CREVAL process due this year – in the Hódmezővásárhely garrison of the HDF 5th ‘Bocskai István’ Infantry Brigade. The core of the IBG is drawn from the 62nd infantry battalion of the brigade.
The Chief of Staff at NATO HQ Sarajevo (NHQ Sa) recently paid an official visit to the Institute for Protection of Female Children and Youth – Višegrad, which is a unique social and health care residential institution for females in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
A professional conference was held on Thursday at the Budapest Balassi Bálint Institute responsible for coordinating the work of Hungarian cultural institutes abroad. The conference was attended by the representatives of Hungarian cultural diplomacy and the directors of Hungarian institutes abroad. The Government was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics.
90% of Hungarian Parliament voted in favour of modifying the Central Bank Act, announced Mihály Varga, the Minister in charge of IMF Talks on Friday. The minister explained that the most important elements of the proposal were retained.
The IMF loan is aimed at improving Hungary’s position, rather than helping her survive, said Prime Minister Orban Viktor in his Friday interview on the regular morning show called 180 Minutes (MR1 Kossuth, Hungarian public radio).
Foreign Minister János Martonyi received Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office Michael Link, who paid a courtesy call to the Minister July 3, 2012. Mr Link visited Budapest for the first time in his new capacity.
The development of a public service code of ethics began as part of the Preventive Anti-Corruption Programme in Public Administration approved by the Government in March. The Ministry also relies on the experience of experts from the OECD in the making of the code. The experts of the international organisation held a seminar under the title Codes of Ethics in Practice at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice on Thursday.
Budapest, 2 July 2012
An award was adopted by ICSID*, World Bank’s dispute resolution forum, in favour of Hungary on 29 June, 2012 in an investment protection dispute started by AES Summit and AES Tisza. The committee that heard the case closed the invalidation proceedings by upholding the September 2010 award of the ICSID arbitration tribunal, which ruled that Hungary had not violated the provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty by regulating power plant prices.
The European Union needs Central Europe, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, János Martonyi, said in a speech on Thursday. He also added that the region should assume greater responsibility in becoming a new source of economic growth for Europe.
As part of the Government’s anti-corruption programme, Hungary will join the Open Government Partnership, an initiative conceived in the spirit of international cooperation that now operates in more than fifty countries, and thereby makes a number of pledges to fight corruption and to implement a more transparent system of public administration. Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics will forward the Government’s declaration of intent to the organisation in July.
An Equal Opportunities Programme will be one of the entry conditions for any settlement taking part in competitive domestic- and EU-financed tender schemes. For the preparation of such programmes local governments—in response to requests from them—were granted an extension to the deadline, now 1 July 2013, due to the newly accepted amendment to the Act regulating this issue. Compared to the previous formula, a new element has been installed into the system: professional help will be granted, free of charge, in the preparation of appropriate Equal Opportunities Programmes through an equal opportunities mentoring network established by the Türr István Training and Research Institute (TTRI) [Hungarian: Türr István Képző és Kutató Intézet, TKKI], which is the background institute of the State Secretariat for Social Inclusion, Ministry of Human Resources.
From now on, National Parks will be able to sell their own branded products and may supplement their income through ecotourism activities. Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas announced the amendment of the deed of foundation of the national parks during his visit to the Balaton Highlands National Park. One of the unique summer spectacles of the area is the flowering of the lavender fields, which the Minister invited everyone to visit during his tour of the country's treasures.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sent a greeting letter to former Head of Government Gyula Horn, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
The government is set to launch a 10-point job protection action plan which aims to improve the situation of disadvantaged employees, jobseekers and enterprises. The primary objective of this package of measures is to create and preserve existing jobs as one of the keys to the economic growth of Hungary. The budgetary resources required for the action plan will be provided by the financial transaction duty.
The representatives of the Hungarian Defence Forces, a military delegation from the US Embassy in Budapest and the World War II American and British Military Heritage Association held a joint wreath-laying ceremony in Szigliget on Saturday, June 30. On the hill of the settlement near Lake Balaton, US and Hungarian war memorials keep alive the memory of the soldiers who fell in World War II.
At the joint proposal of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for National Economy, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán appointed State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó as the head of eight bilateral economic intergovernmental committees with effect from 2 July 2012.
Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Pierre Vimont, announced to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Hungary that since 1 July 2012 the EU delegation in Tripoli has taken over local representation of the European Union from the Hungarian Embassy.