Press News

Budapest, September 16, 2004

On September 16 German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Federal Minister of Research Ms Edelgard Buhlmahn participated at an event organized by the German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (NMIKK) where they were greeted by Elek Straub. Matáv's CEO, as the Chairman of the Chamber, welcomed the high-profile German guests doing a two-day visit to Hungary, and their host Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy.

On the second day of the Chancellor's visit the Chairman and members of the board of NMIKK and the German Chancellor had a private talk. Then the Chamber held a meeting in Hotel Kempinski for the representatives of German investors and companies in Hungary and the press. After Elek Straub's welcome speech the attendees heard presentations by Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy and Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on further promotion of bilateral economic relations and on deepening Hungarian-German cooperation in research and development.

In his welcome speech Elek Straub said among others that NMIKK, that had been successfully operating already for 11 years with its more than 1,000 member companies, is the largest voluntary association not only in Hungary, but also in the whole of Central Europe. In this function it plays a major role in Hungarian-German cooperation since the German economy is Hungary's top external partner in terms of both trade and investments.

Both as Chairman of the Chamber and on behalf of the member companies, Elek Straub welcomed the signing of an agreement on deepening cooperation between the two countries in research and development. He declared that with this step cooperation between the two countries has reached a new phase in the area of research and development.