Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1989. július-december (43. évfolyam, 27-48. szám)
1989-07-13 / 28. szám
Thursday, July 13. 1989. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZO 11. When I learnt my textbook economics at school, it was said that stability in the general conditions was one of the key background components for successful business activity. The economies of Eastern Europe used to be noted for their extreme stability - low inflation, minimal unemployment, steady growth, etc. Yet paradoxically they were not regarded as the best arenas of business activity. Other factors, primarily overcentralization and bureaucracy, stood in the way. Now all that is changing. In fact change is the order of the day, particularly in Hungary, whose economic reform process began long before anyone had even heard of the word perestroika. Hardly a week passes without some major change being announced by the relevant Hungarian authorities. Regular readers of the Hungarian Trade Journal will know that almost every issue carries some information about new regulations of interest to the foreign business community. This month is no exception, as the piece about new opportunities for foreigners to invest in Hungary shows. My guess is that the process will continue. To take a matter of major importance, I would say it can only be a matter of time, for example, before the forint becomes fully convertible. If the proposed joint Vienna-Budapest World Expo goes ahead in 1995 - and my guess is that it will, for what better project could you have in these days of East-West 'reconciliation' - then this is bound to bring a steady stream of regulatory changes in the years leading up to it. The Hungarians are already prepared, for example, to abolish visa requirements on a mutual basis with any other European country. It all sounds good news, for foreigners who might be interested in doing business with this part of the world, as Hungary, according to the survey reported already, is often seen as a stepping stone into the wider Eastern European market. Perhaps my textbooks were wrong, therefore, and stability is not such a positive phenomena after all? Well, of course, it depends. At the moment the changes taking place in Hungary are of an opening-up nature, they are primarily aimed at doing away with former restrictions. The present changes, therefore, are generally positive in their impact. There is another area, however, which also requires changes but which is not so easy to effect by ministerial regulations and parliamentary decrees. I have in mind infrastructural matters of both a material and human nature. The former would include the appalling Hungarian telephone system, the latter would include the willingness of Hungarian managers to get out of the rut of the old ways. There have been examples recently of Western firms giving up in exasperation because of the failure even to receive replies' to their telexes sent to Hungary. This is no good for anyone. Bob Dent Editor's note: Bob Dent writing in the Hungarian Trade Journal writes a regular column: "A Word in Edgeways". We think he makes mse. HUNGARY TODAY For some time now, it has been common knowledge that Hungary is among those countries which have inner stability and active international relations, Those foreigners who visit Hungary - whether just once or repeatedly - leave with positive impressions; there are even some, including members of the press, whose positive evaluations verge on the embarrasing for the Hungarian authorities. Such positive impressions were not unfounded. Hungary has gone through dramatic development during the past decades, the*standard of living and the quality of life have improved substantially, new vistas have been opened up by the new freedom rights. This fact was also appreciated by the governments of Western countries with which Hungary has developed favorable relations. All this had. to be said because those coming to Hungary now will find a more subtle and varied picture. While the Hungarian government has gone further than ever before in implementing reforms and has made even greater strides in the area of international relations, it has also been beset by serious economic difficulties. The economic structure has, to a certain extent, become outdated, and the country's foreign debts have increased drastically, as a 'consequence of which the standard of living of the great majority of Hungarians has dropped appreciably. And all this has. brought social and political problems in its wake. Clearly, the above are of great concern to the Hungarian government, which airs these problems openly and honestly. In order to find solutions, the government is attempting to come to national consensus on these and other questions as well. In its endeavors, Hungary is counting more than ever on the good will and understanding of other nations and is hoping to increase cooperation to the mutual benefit of all. (From the Hungarian Digest.) “Of course you deserve a raise, Jones, but if I gave a raise to everyone who deserved one I’d be in a lot of trouble with the Board of Directors." Plan are now under way to restore to its former glory the old Jewish gymnasium (high school) of Budapest, which had been destroyed by the Nazis. In April, 500 alumni of the school participated in an initial meeting with members of the Hungarian Academy of Science to get the project started. Simultaneously, alumni living in the United States and other nations, began preparing lists of other alumni to widen the base of support for the restoration effort. As part of the effort, more than 300 alumni from 22 nations will convene in Budapest in September to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the school under the aegis of the newly formed Friends of the Jewish Gymnasium of Budapest. The ultimate goal is to create a cultural and student exchange plus postgraduate programs between Budapest and schools in Israel and the United States. For further information, contact Imre Hecht, 55 Central Park West, New York, N.Y. 10023 ( From the Jewish Week.) So^e 1,800-2,000 foreign students pay tuition fees in Hungary for five-year training in universities and colleges. The Semmelweis Medical University introduced "training for a fee" in 1983, when it began to hold classes in German. In 1984, the Technical University of Budapest also received paying students, mainly from the developing countries and since then, engineering has been taught in English for a yearly fee of 3,000 dollars. Medical universities in the provinces and the Heavy Industry Technical University of Miskolc have also followed suit since. The budget withdraws about 20 per cent of the universities' incomes from tuition fees that total some six million dollars a year. The remainder can be freely used by the institutions. Apart from dollar revenues, this form of training has also yielded another major profit: foreign language teaching has been introduced in Hungarian universities, thereby making it possible for certain subjects to be taught, either fully or in part, in English, German or Russian, for Hungarian students' too who, naturally, do not pay tuition fees. Dear Friends! Thank you for the English pages you are kindly forwarding to me so regularly. Please find my contribution of $ 5.- toward this work. Have a pleasant, happy and peaceful summer. Lillian K. Neumann A WCIRD IN EDGEWAYS Gymnasium restoration
