The recent Dutch country focus of Diplomacy & Trade featured an interview with the head of the Political and Economic Department who says the Embassy is prepared to act as an interlocutor between the Dutch business community and the Hungarian authorities.

The European Commission announced the first results of its new EUR 3 billion SME Instrument program, launched under Horizon 2020 to help innovative small firms get ideas from the lab to the market. The first winners include three Hungarian firms.

The Hungarian European Business Council, incorporating the most important international companies present in Hungary, has published its 16th annual report, calls on the Hungarian government to create "sustainable and inclusive growth".

Foreign-currency denominated loans will be eliminated from Hungary's lending market by way of converting them to Hungarian forint (HUF) loans before the end of this year, Minister of National Economy Mihály Varga told public media on Monday.

After one and a half years of spectacular rise, the GKI-Erste economic sentiment index reached a peak in April. After a decrease in May, expectations improved slightly in the business sector in June, whereas the consumer confidence index continued to decline.

The Hungarian government will do everything in its power to help Hungary turn into not only a production but an innovation centre, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said at the general assembly of the Hungarian Association for Innovation.

The SME sector struggling in Hungary with a sharp rise in bankruptcies and a shattered structure of companies. That was one of the issues were addressed at the Portfolio CEE Private Equity & Corporate Finance conference in Budapest.

The Hungarian government projects 2.9% of GDP budget deficit for 2014 and over 3% economic growth for 2017 in its convergence program sent to the European Commission. The program was outlined to the press by Economics Minister Mihály Varga.

The European Commission is not suspending the payment of development funds for Hungary, but for now, Brussels will only pay the bills submitted by 15 April until every question about the country’s new tendering system is clarified.

The GKI-Erste economic sentiment index, which has been rising spectacularly for 18 months according to seasonally-adjusted figures in Hungary, has gone up in April and expectations reached their highest in more than 15 years.

At FinPro, Finland’s national trade, internationalization and investment development organization, the main line of activity is partner searching. In the recent Finland Focus of Diplomacy & Trade, the head of FinPro in Hungary talked about the organization.

The ambassadors of the V4 countries to the United States have made a plea to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner for the United States to export natural gas to Central and Eastern Europe to ease the region’s dependence of gas supply from Russia.

The British Business Centre, established with the cooperation of the British Embassy, the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and the British Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (BCCH) was officially aunched this Friday in downtown Budapest.

The British Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (BCCH), established in 1991, elected a new Chairman, Vazul Tóth at its Annual General Meeting in May last year. A recent issue of Diplomacy & Trade carried an interview with him.

The Chairmanship of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary has been taken over by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary whose President, János Takács became the Chairman of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary.