As a final chapter of ICDT’s “Promoting Moldova’s EU Aspirations” project, the Centre organized two study trips, parallelly, in Hungary.

Representatives of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry from Chisinau, Tiraspol and the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, eight people in total, travelled to Budapest between October 13-16. The delegates attended working meetings and consultations with the most relevant Hungarian institutions and personalities of the field. They were hosted by representatives of various state organizations and private companies.

After an introductory discussion with Prof. Dr. István Gyarmati, President of the Centre for Democracy Public Foundation (DEMKK), the delegation was hosted by Dr. András Vértes, Chairman of the GKI Consulting Ltd.

The participants also had the chance to visit the Parliament and meet Dr. Lajos Kupcsok, Member of the Economic and Information Technology Committee and Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Pest county, as well as, István Horváth, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.

On behalf of the Ministry of National Economy, Deputy State Secretary for Domestic Economy Dr. Áron Márk Lenner received the delegation.

Through a visit at the President of the SwissCham Hungary, Dr. István Béres, the Moldovan representatives got an insight into the work of the bilateral chambers.

Further state owned institutions supporting and encouraging commerce and foreign trade were presented at the study trip. Péter Spányik, Head of the Department of International Relations talked about the work of the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency (HITA), while László Lengyel, Director for International Relations and Analysis explained the activities of the Hungarian Export-Import Bank, along with the Hungarian Export Credit Insurance Plc. (MEHIB).

Finally, the delegation was hosted by their main local counterpart, the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK) where General Vice President Ferenc Miklóssy summarized the lessons learned during the program and discussed further cooperation possibilities.

Between October 15-18, fifteen further representatives from Moldova arrived to Hungary, from the Moldovan districts of the Dniester Euroregion, Gagauzia and Transnistria region, to examine the Hungarian system of local governments and share their experiences on the work of the municipalities.

Introducing the local structures, Dr. Viktória Zöld-Nagy, Deputy State Secretary for the Development of Territorial Public Administration at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice gave a detailed lecture on the topic. Later, this was extended by the presentation of Dr. Emese Farkasné Gasparics, Deputy State Secretary for Local Governments of the Ministry of Interior.

This second delegation also had the chance to visit the Parliament and discussed with Dr. Zsolt Láng, Chairman of the Committee on Local Government and Regional Development who is also Mayor of Budapest II. District. Dr. Oszkár Seszták, Chairman of the General Assembly of Szabolcs-Szatmár Bereg County acquainted the guests with another perspective and also talked about the Committee on Audit Office and Budget of which he is the Vice-Chairman.

To examine the Hungarian system more closely, the delegation travelled to the town of Gödöllő where they visited several recently renovated and developed institutions and infrastructure, after Dániel Pecze, Deputy Mayor of the town introduced the work of the municipality and its main achievements in the past years. He also gave an insight to the functioning of further fora where Dr. György Gémesi, Mayor of Gödöllő is an active member: the Association of Hungarian Municipalities, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRAE) and the European Union’s Committee of the Regions (CoR).

The guests also visited the town of Eger where Dr. Erik Márton, Lawyer of the Municipality explained them the legal structure of the Hungarian system. After exploring the local cultural heritage, they were received by the Executive Director of the Carpathian Foundation-Hungary, Ms. Boglárka Bata.

On the final day of the study trip, the delegation listened to the lecture of Annamária Kékesi, Development Director of ICDT on the granting system of the EU and other international donors. The last session was the presentation of Balázs Nagy, Lecturer at the Department of Architectural Engineering of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) on the so-called passive house where the program was held and which could be a future asset at Moldovan municipalities, as well.

More on the Study Trip for the representatives of the local governments can be found on the website of the Dniester Euroregion, in Russian.