Swedish Chamber heads EU chambers in Hungary

The Chairmanship of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary has been taken over by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary. As of January 1, 2014, János Takács, the President of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, became the Chairman of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary.

The change in the Chairmanship of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary was officially announced at a press conference held at the Embassy of Sweden in Budapest in the presence of the representatives of the most important media in Hungary, members of the Board of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary and representatives of the bilateral chambers in Hungary. They were  welcomed by the host, the Ambassador of Sweden to Hungary, Karin Olofsdotter,

János Takács took over the position from Paul Stolk, Chairman of the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, whose mandate expired end of last year. Paul Stolk was at the helm of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary for a period of two years.

According to a memorandum of understanding, Paul Stolk – as preceding Chairman – and Mr. Gordan Ban, Chairman of the Slovenian-Hungarian Business Association – who will take over in two years time – became Vice Chairs of the EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary.

The EU-Chambers of Commerce in Hungary is committed to continue its traditional business events during 2014. In addition to these, a Conference on management liability will be organised on February 26 this year. The series of major events will continue with a business conference in May 2014, the topic being ‘10 years in the EU’, with László Andor, the Hungarian Member of the European Commission as keynote speaker. A business event is planned for October to present the Economic Strategy of the new Hungarian government.

At the press event, the communications director of the German-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dirk Wölfer – speaking of the embedded status of EU companies in Hungary – pointed out that EU-based companies in the year 2011 employed more than 430 thousand people in this country, paying a total annual labour cost of HUF 2,109 billion and creating  added value of HUF 4,525 billion. Having an R&D staff of over 7,500 people, these companies spent in 2011 HUF 106 billion on research and development.