Embassy News

Ambassador Addresses Hungary’s Next Generation of Business Leaders

Ambassador Foley addresses students and faculty at the College.

Ambassador Foley took the opportunity of a talk to 200 Hungarian business students to detail how the Embassy is working with Hungary to improve transparency in local tax and licensing regulations, in enforcement of anti-bribery laws, and in its support for competitive energy markets to avoid the economic distortions of monopoly control. The Ambassador’s March 10, 2008 address was part of the Budapest College of International Management and Business Studies "U.S. Days," aimed at acquainting students with U.S. society and policies.

The Ambassador encouraged the students to help improve Hungary’s attractiveness to foreign investors. They do this, as they move into positions of authority, by ensuring equal treatment of foreign and domestic companies in tax and regulatory enforcement, but also by using the talents of all human capital, including the under-appreciated abilities of women in the workforce. Maintaining competition in the energy sector, the Ambassador emphasized, could be accomplished through support for the Nabucco pipeline as an alternative to a potential Gazprom monopoly of gas supplies.