OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 82, 25 April 1996
SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY CONTINUE DISPUTE OVER OSCE POST. Slovak Foreign
Ministry spokesman Juraj Matejovsky on 24 April expressed regret over
Hungarian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Gabor Szentivanyi's statement
that Slovakia proposed a candidate for OSCE secretary-general to prevent
the Hungarian nominee from being elected, Slovak Radio reported.
Matejovsky stressed that Slovakia used its "democratic right" when it
came up with its own candidate last October. He emphasized that Slovakia
has never questioned the "professional qualities" of Hungary's
candidate, Istvan Gyarmati. But he added that Gyarmati had not been
approved by all the Central European countries and therefore had failed
to fulfill "the basic precondition for his election." Other countries
also raised "serious reservations" against Gyarmati, Matejovsky said.
Budapest officially withdrew his candidacy on 22 April. -- Sharon Fisher
KOSOVO MIGRANTS BELIEVED TO HAVE DROWNED IN DANUBE. Hungarian police on
24 April said eight ethnic Albanians from Serbia's Kosovo province are
believed to have drowned while attempting to cross the Danube River from
Hungary to Slovakia, domestic and international media reported. The
migrants were crossing the river in a motorboat when it capsized. Police
said the boat was probably carrying twice as many passengers as it was
designed for. They have rounded up 11 of the passengers, but eight men
are still missing. The smuggling of migrants through Hungary to the West
has increased significantly in recent years. Border guards on the
Hungarian-Austrian border say they pick up around a dozen migrants every
night. -- Zsofia Szilagyi
As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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Thursday, 25 April 1996 Volume 1, Issue 335
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REGIONAL NEWS
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EU SUPPORTS HUNGARIAN TRANSPORTATION
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The European Union will give Hungary 200 million dollars over
the next five years to modernize the nation's railways.
Hungarian Transportation Minister Karoly Lotz made the
announcement yesterday from Strasbourg, Germany where he is
attending a Council of Europe meeting. Lotz currently holds
the rotating presidency of the Council's transportation
ministers and has also negotiated for EU money to build a
stretch of the new M3 highway, which will connect Budapest to
Miskolc.
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BUSINESS NEWS
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HUNGARIAN BUS COMPANY GOES TO THE OLYMPICS
> ------------------------------------------
Hungary's Ikarus bus company will get in the game this summer
during the Olympics in Atlanta. Ikarus will comprise 10
percent of the bus fleet carrying spectators from event to
event and the company is excited about the publicity it could
generate for its American subsidiary. American Ikarus is
located in Alabama and will put together 100 million dollars
worth of Hungarian bus parts this year. Ikarus has been
present in the North American market since 1980, where it sold
about a thousand buses.
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ANALYST OPTIMISTIC ABOUT FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN HUNGARY
> ------------------------------------------------------
Laszlo Csaba, an analyst for the Kopint-Datorg research firm,
says the latest issue of Business Central Europe is too gloomy
in its assessment of foreign capital investment in the region.
The magazine cites the widening gap in performance between
domestic and foreign companies in Hungary, with the
multi-nationals ahead in nearly all respects. But Csaba
points out that monopolies controlled by foreign interests
have been limited here, and companies like Suzuki are buying
more and more of their product components from Hungarian
manaufacturers. He says this trend will grow because products
made with Hungarian parts are more affordable on the world
market.
However, Csaba did agree with Business Central Europe's opinion
that too little of Hungary's capital investment contributes to
domestic growth.
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