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_13. July 1998._
_Cycling - FIAT-Gemenc Grand Prix_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - The three-day, five-stage, 24th
FIAT-Gemenc Grand Prix international cycling competition finished on
Sunday in Szekszard (SW Hungary).
5th stage, 174-km race for the Alisca Bau Cup
1. Mirko Angelli (ITA, Padovani) 4:32:33
2. Alexandr Nikacevic (ITA, Padovani) 4:35:51
3. Karoly Eisenkrammer (HUN, Postas Matav SE, I.) 4:36:00
4. David Arato (HUN, Szekszardi KSE I.) 4:36:12
5. Tartizio Saccucci (ITA, Padovani) 4:36:24
6. Csaba Steig (HUN, Szolnoki Cukor) 4:36:24
Final results:
Individual:
1. Saccucci 8:34:38
2. Pavol Zaduban (SLK, Dubnica) 8:34:39
3. Miroslav Liptak (SLK, Dubova) 8:35:03
4. Angelli 8:35:05
5. Nikacevic 8:35:09
6. Csaba Steig 8:39:28
Team:
1. Elematic Padovani (ITA) 25:45:27
2. Dubnica (SLK) 26:00:29
3. Szekszardi KSE I.(HUN) 26:10:01
4. Postas Matav SE I.(HUN) 26:15:05
5. Tyrolia (AUT) 26:21:28
6. Kanizsa KK (HUN) 26:21:54+++
_Orban in Paris on Hungarian Foreign Policy_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Prime Minister Viktor Orban called it
significant and symbolic that his first official talks after taking
office will be held in Paris on Thursday.
The prime minister was speaking in an interview with the daily paper
Nepszabadsag in Paris, where he has been on a private visit since 9
July.
Orban saw the World Cup final on Sunday. Earlier, he attended a
ceremony at the Hungarian Embassy, where French ex-prime minister
Raymond Barre was awarded a high decoration of the Republic of
Hungary.
"Hungary is automatically categorised as a country seeking ties
primarily with Germany," Orban said of his visit to France. "It is
always significant whether the first foreign visit of the Hungarian
prime minister is to Germany or to another country, and the first
destination is usually Germany," Orban said. "Although our foreign
policy is designed to rest on more than one pillar, Europe does not
always see it that way," Orban said, noting that the Thursday meeting
in Paris is his first official visit since he was sworn in.
Orban will meet President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel
Jospin on 16 July.
"The meeting will be a strong signal that relations with Germany will
not be the only strain in Hungary"s new foreign policy," Orban
said.+++
_Orban, Kovacs More Popular, Survey Shows_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Prime Minister Viktor Orban and previous
Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs, currently heading the parliamentary
group of the Hungarian Socialist Party, have boosted their popularity,
while ex-Interior Minister and resigned Chairman of the Alliance of
Free Democrats Gabor Kuncze, currently the party"s executive, and
Agriculture and Regional Development Minister Jozsef Torgyan, Chairman
of the coalition Independent Smallholders" Party, have lost some of
their appeal, the first opinion poll by Szonda Ipsos since the May
general elections shows.
President Arpad Goncz continues to top the list, scoring 77, up 2
points from the last survey before the elections, the poll published
in Nepszabadsag reveals. Runner-up Kovacs, who gained 4 points since
the previous poll, is 6 points behind, leading Viktor Orban by 4
points, who added 5 points to score 66.
Orban"s score shows that he is now as popular as he was back in
1992, the "first heyday" of Fidesz, Nepszabadsag comments. Orban"s
predecessors Jozsef Antall (1990-1993) and Gyula Horn (1994-1998)
started off in their offices enjoying similar public support. Orban
could increasingly come to personify a national consensus as his
popularity overcomes social boundaries. He gained a sizeable 61 points
even among elderly people, his most severe critics, Nepszabadsag
writes.+++
_World Press House Opens in Budapest_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Hungaropress Kft has opened World Press
House, a top-quality shop selling some 400 Hungarian publications and
over 1,200 newspapers and magazines from 24 countries, including the
United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Russia,
Croatia, Yugoslavia and Macedonia.
The model shop, opened last weekend is centrally located in Varoshaz
Street, District 5, Budapest.+++
_1999 Tourism Marketing Plan Completed_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Tourism revenues in Hungary are expected
to grow to USD 3 billion next year according to the 1999 tourism
marketing plan recently prepared by Magyar Turizmus Rt (MT).
1999 will be the year of food and wine, with the top priority being to
improve Hungary"s image by enhancing the good reputation of Hungarian
hospitality and promoting a healthy diet, MT"s press department head
Judit Bak said. Cultural, health and water holidays, equestrian and
congress tourism will also be promoted.
MT will open a representative office in the Spanish capital or
Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1999, Bak said. By the end of this year, 17 MT
offices will be up and running abroad, and the company will operate an
additional four information centres.+++
_Eight Die on Roads on Sunday_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Eight people died and 61 were injured in
road accidents in Hungary over the past 24 hours, the National Police
Command told MTI on Monday morning.+++
_Joint Hungarian-Italian Military Training in Hungary_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Italian and Hungarian armoured brigades
commenced a joint military training programme on Monday at the
headquarters of the Hodmezovasarhely (SE Hungary) Armoured Brigade, a
press conference was told.
As part of strengthening ties between the two armed forces, the
Italian chief of staff has recently visited the Hodmezovasarhely
barracks.
The operation, scheduled to last until Friday, is the first of this
kind. The 30-strong troop of the Garibaldi brigade"s 8th Bersaglieri
regiment and the Hodmezovasarhely unit will carry out peacekeeping and
tactical tasks.+++
_Building Output Up 13.2pc Year-on-Year in May_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - The construction sector boosted output
by 13.2 per cent, year-on-year May figures published by the Central
Statistical Office (CSO) show, CSO told MTI on Monday.
In the first quarter of 1998, GDP increased 4.9 per cent in real terms
compared to the same period last year. However, the value added by the
construction industry, which accounts for 4 per cent of the total GDP,
rose faster, by 17.2 per cent, CSO said.
Construction output in May 1998 totalled HUF 52.22 billion, up from
HUF 41.49 billion last May, while the sector generated HUF 209.53
billion between January and May this year.
Construction orders in volume terms totalled 22 per cent more in May
than one year ago.+++
_Number of Asylum Seekers Doubles in Hungary_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - The number of asylum seekers rose to
2,047 at the end of June from 1,060 one year earlier, the Monday issue
of Magyar Nemzet reported.
The arrival of 327 Yugoslav nationals, mostly ethnic Albanians from
Kosovo, was probably precipitated by the war situation in the
province, Magyar Nemzet surmises. Some 86 minority Albanians arrived
in Hungary in the first week of July, the Refugee and Migration Office
said, but experts do not yet consider this an emergency.
Under the Refugee Law of March 1998, Hungary must provide asylum for
refugees from non-European countries as well as for people who fled
from European states. According to Magyar Nemzet, 1,557 non-European
refugees arrived in the first half of the year, primarily from
Afghanistan, Iraq, Algeria, Sierra Leone and Bangladesh. Asylum
seekers from European countries numbered some 500, half of whom came
from Yugoslavia. Other refugees include Turks, Ukrainians, Romanians
and Armenians.
Most asylum seekers consider Hungary as a transit country, with their
dream destinations being Germany, Austria and Scandinavia, Magyar
Nemzet says.
The 1998 central budget allocates HUF 936 million (USD 4.3 million) to
be spent on refugees.+++
_Zalakeramia Rt Wins Czech Privatisation Tender_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Hungarian tile manufacturers Zalakeramia
Rt has won a tender to buy 36.2 per cent of the Czech Keramika Horni
Briza company, which produces tiles, paints and stoneware, Zalakeramia
informed investors in the Monday issue of the official newspaper of
the Hungarian Banking and Capital Market Supervision.
The tender was judged in favour of Zalakeramia by the Czech National
State Assets Management Fund. The company, based in the west Hungarian
town of Zalaegerszeg, conducted the deal via its wholly-owned
subsidiary Hussar Holding AG of Austria.
The Zalakeramia group, owned nearly 90 per cent by foreign investors,
acquired an almost 80 per cent stake in the Croatian Inker ceramics
factory last year, when it also became the majority owner of Romanian
tile-makers S.C. Cesarom and of the Budapest Pietra.+++
_Budapest Forint Fixing_
Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Official forint fixing of the National Bank
of Hungary:
Currency rate per 1 unit of currency
Australian dollar
133.66
Austrian schilling
17.22
Belgian franc (100)
587.61
Canadian dollar
148.24
Czech crown
6.80
Danish krone
31.81
Dutch guilder
107.50
Finnish markka
39.86
French franc
36.14
German mark
121.18
Italian lire (1000)
122.90
Japanese yen (100)
154.05
Norwegian krone
28.54
Polish zloty
63.18
Portuguese escudo (100)
118.33
Pound sterling
358.51
Slovakian crown
6.24
Spanish peseta (100)
142.62
Swedish krona
27.21
Swiss franc
143.27
USA dollar
219.18
ECU
239.59
+++
_Fraud Victims Commit Suicide_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - The BME Kft of Gyor (W Hungary),
collected nearly HUF 89 million from 232 credulous clients with the
promise of a low-interest loan. As the greater part of the money
disappeared, several of the cheated entrepereneurs have gone bankrupt,
lost their homes and four committed suicide, Gyor-Moson-Sopron county
police told the press on Monday.
Since 1992 BME has promised loans and business partners to starting
entrepreneurs for projects such as opening restaurants, building
hotels, fattening pigs and even setting up snake farms. Applicants
from all parts of the country first had to deposit three, then five
and finally 10 per cent of the requested sum, ranging from HUF 40,000
to 8.7 million, but they waited for the credit in vain. Although 74
people were paid back a total of just over HUF 33 million, the bulk of
the money has vanished.
Police accuse the company"s co-owner of fraud, embezzlement, illicit
banking and document forgery. An international warrant has been issued
for the arrest of his accomplice.
Police will finish investigating the case later this week and hand in
an accusation proposal to the Gyor prosecutor"s office.+++
_Senior Police Officers Dismissed from 16 July_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Three National Police Command (NPC)
leaders will be removed from their offices as of 16 July, national
police chief Maj.-Gen. Laszlo Forgacs told MTI on Monday.
He said Interior Minister Sandor Pinter had told him, NPC Criminal
Director-General Brig.-Gen. Istvan Ignacz nad Public Security
Director-General Brig.-Gen. Ferenc Banfi earlier today that they would
be relieved of their posts from 16 July. All three will remain at the
police waiting to be commissioned with "special tasks".
Pinter will announce the changes at a police staff meeting on
Thursday.+++
_Balaton Water Clean_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - The water of Lake Balaton is fit for
bathing both bacteriologically and biologically, the deputy medical
officer of Somogy county told MTI on Monday.
He said good water quality was mainly due to the cool and rainy
weather, and partly to the fact that the peak tourist season has not
yet begun. Although blue alga has appeared in the water, but not the
toxic type and only in a negligible quantity, so bathers are in no
danger of being infected. The water quality of the lake is checked
every two weeks.
Balaton, Hungary"s second most important tourist attraction after the
capital, is visited by over 500,000 people daily in July and
August.+++
_State Purchase of Wheat Begins_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - State wheat purchases at guaranteed
price started on Monday, Minister of Agriculture and Regional
Development Jozsef Torgyan told a news conference in Budapest.
He said, "HUF 18,000 (USD 82) is paid for a tonne of top-quality
wheat, HUF 16,000 for that of one grade weaker quality and HUF 13,000
for fodder wheat." Fodder wheat will be taken over only from
disadvantaged family farms in quantities of up to 50 tonnes. To drain
surpluses, stockbreeders and mills will be encouraged to stockpile.
State purchases will be conducted in view of this year"s expected
harvest of 4.5-5 million tonnes and last year"s stock of a further
500,000 tonnes. Domestic consumption is estimated at 3 million tonnes
and the export market is also saturated.
The minister said actions were planned for the social use of several
products, including maize, meat and milk.+++
_Opposition Parties on the Dismissal of Police Leaders_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Former Interior Minister Gabor Kuncze
said, "It would have been ridiculous to expect National Police Command
(NPC) leaders to set right five years of damage caused by their
predecessors in 18 months."
Kuncze, now pariamentary leader of the opposition Alliance of Free
Democrats (AFD), suspected political reasons behind the removal of the
police chiefs. (The new Interior Minister, Sandor Pinter, was national
police chief from 1991 to 1996.)
Speaking to MTI on Monday, the AFD politician said the honesty and
professional competence of the relieved generals is unquestionable.
Magda Kosa Kovacs, administrative deputy chairwoman of the Hungarian
Socialist Party (HSP), told MTI, "I doubt that the right of the
interior minister to choose his staff himself can be questioned from
an opposition position." She was appreciative of the efforts made by
the outgoing police leaders and hoped the choice of the interior
minister will justify the speed of his current decision.
"The opposition Hungarian Justice and Life Party will again show
confidence to the future new police leaders, as it did in the case of
the new government. At the same time, it expects results," party
chairman and parliamentary group leader Istvan Csurka said. He
expressed hope that "the new government will take similar firm steps
in the case of bank directors as well".+++
_Oscar Prize-Winner Istvan Szabo Shooting Again_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Film director Istvan Szabo will start
shooting a new film, "The Taste of Sunlight" in Hungary on Tuesday,
producers told a press conference in Budapest on Monday.
Ralph Fiennes, the leading character in the film and star of the
"English Patient", was also present. The official premiere is to be
held at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.
Szabo, who won an Oscar for "Mephisto" in 1981, is shooting in Hungary
again after an interval of several years, now in the production of the
Canadian Alliance Communications Corporation (ACC). Both producers of
the film, ACC Director-General Robert Lantos and Alliance Motion
Pictures Director-General Andras Hamori, were born in Hungary.
Szabo said his script tells the story of an East-Central European
family whose ill-fated members are driven by a struggle for a sense of
security and the compulsion of constant adaptation, while they are
losing their real selves.
Ralph Fiennes plays three characters in the film to be shot mostly in
Hungary. The international cast includes Jennifer Ehle, Rachel Weisz,
Molly Parker, William Hurt, Rosemary Harris, Miriam Margolyes, John
Neville, Katja Studt, Buddy Elias and James Frain. Among domestic
celebrities are Mari Torocsik, Gabor Mate and Eva Igo.+++
_Joint Hungarian-Romanian Military Training_
hd: Budapest, 13 June (MTI) - Lieutenant-General Ferenc Vegh,
Chief-of-Staff of the Hungarian Army, on Monday viewed a sharp
shooting exercise held at the end of a joint Hungarian-Romanian
training exercise in Varpalota (W Hungary).
In answer to MTI"s question as to whether the current exercise served
as preparation for the joint peacekeeping battalion to be set up by
the two countries, Vegh said it did, although only indirectly.
He said the peacekeeping battalion will affect all branches of
military service, while only an anti-tank artillery tactical exercise
was held in Varpalota.
As regards the joint peacekeeping battalion, Vegh said the defence
ministers of the two countries signed the related declaration of
intent this spring, however, the Parliaments of both countries must
ratify the document. The chiefs of staff will only then sign the
implementation agreement.+++
_Conference on Cooperation of Small and Medium Businesses_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - The 40-strong Council session of the
World Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME), hosted by the
Pest County Chamber of Commerce, began session in Budapest on Monday.
Participants stressed the common goal is for leaders of small and
medium enterprises to be able to compete with the giant monopolies on
all five continents of the world.
Zoltan Vereczkei, General Secretary of the Pest County Chamber of
Commerce, told MTI that 109 countries are members of the Delhi-based
organisation which strives to forge a system of relations covering the
entire world that is indispensable for increasing the competitiveness
of small businesses. An educational and information system that
accords to the goals should be set up in the framework of cooperation,
he said.
Products manufactured and services provided by small and medium
enterprises would have the biggest market in third world countries,
WASME experts believe, and if the conditions for this are created,
members of the organisation could have access to these markets without
having to utilise the mediation of monopoly firms, he said.
Hundreds of thousands of small enterprises were quickly set up in
Hungary in the wake of the change in system, however, the market
conditions, traditions and appropriate knowledge are lacking for their
successful operation, as is the case in the neighbouring countries as
well, Vereczkei pointed out. WASME plans to shortly open its Central
and Eastern European office in Budapest to patch these shortages, he
added.+++
_Peter Orban Candidate National Police Chief_
hd: Budapest, July 13 (MTI) - Brigadier-General Peter Orban, deputy of
the public order chief director of the National Police Headquarters,
will succeed Major-General Laszlo Forgacs, who will be relieved as
national police chief from Thursday, 16 July, the Interior Ministry"s
press department informed MTI on Monday.
Interior Minister Sandor Pinter has, with the consent of the prime
minister, already initiated the parliamentary hearing for the
candidate general to the post.+++
_Hungarian-Slovak Cooperation in Nature Conservation_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Hungarian and Slovak nature conservation
experts signed a cooperation agreement and a related work plan on
Monday in Aggtelek, in the Baradla cave stretching across the border
of the two countries, Gabor Salamon, director of the Aggtelek National
Park, told MTI.
He said the Hungarian national park and the Slovak nature conservation
area on the other side of the border finely complement each other.
Valuable areas of the biosphere reservation, the caves that form a
part of the World Heritage, are found in both countries. The agreement
defines the institutional frameworks of the good cooperation
implemented to date, Salamon said.
Under the signed document, the two sides will exchange data from the
monitoring system set up for protected and rare plants, the maps
prepared on the basis of the data, and will jointly follow the
migrating animal species. Experts of the two countries will also
exchange research and educational experiences.
Salamon said the main objective of the document is to ensure that the
state border not pose an obstacle in the fulfillment of nature
protection tasks.+++
_Orban on Police Changes, EU Membership, Meeting with Vasile_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday
said all changes within the police force are being made on the basis
of an agreement he concluded with the Interior minister and serve to
strengthen the force.
Orban was commenting on the dismissal of the three leaders of the
National Police Headquarters upon returning to Budapest from his
unofficial visit to Paris, where he attended the Soccer World Cup
final and the match for third place.
The prime minister told journalists he never considered implementing
the new criminal investigations concept and the action plan against
organised crime with the persons who headed the police force in the
past.
In answer to MTI"s question about Hungary"s membership in the European
Union, Orban said: "At present, the date of Hungary+s membership in
the EU seems more uncertain than earlier, but this is no reason for
Hungarian diplomacy to give up its official expectation for membership
in 2002."
According to the prime minister, Hungary will most probably be fully
suited for EU membership by 2002. "Inasmuch as there is a
postponement, that will not be our responsibility, but that of our
partner," Orban said.
He added there is a growing determination among European Union member
states that the EU"s internal reforms should be implemented first, and
only then should the first state from Central Europe be accepted as a
member of the organisation.
Orban will return to Paris for a working visit and talks with French
President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin on Thursday.
On his forthcoming visit to Romania, Orban said that en route to the
summer university in Baile Tusnad, he will most probably hold
unofficial talks in Bucharest with his Romanian counterpart, Radu
Vasile, who is due in Budapest this autumn.+++
_EU-Twinning Meeting Opens in Budapest_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - A five-day coordination talks on
long-term expert assistance began in Budapest on Monday behind closed
doors between representatives of the European Union member countries
and Hungarian ministries officials in the framework of the EU"s new
"Twinning" programme.
Andras Barsi, staff member of the Prime Minister"s Office, told MTI
after the first day of talks that public administration experts from
the EU member states will arrive in Hungary this year, as part of the
Phare programme, to promote the development of Hungarian institutions.
"This is needed in order for our institutions to accord to the EU
expectations as soon as possible," he said.
Barsi added the talks cover five areas: the Phare projects related to
the agrarian sector that receives priority treatment from the point of
view of EU membership, interior affairs, internal market,
environmental protection and financial affairs.+++
_International Conference on NATO Enlargement_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - A two-day international conference
entitled "The State and Prospects of NATO Enlargement" opened in
Budapest on Monday with representatives of 19 countries attending.
The conference, held in the Zrinyi Miklos National Defence University,
is jointly organised by the Strategic and Defence Research Institute
of Budapest and the Military Centre of Strategic Studies of Rome,
organisers informed MTI in a communique.
The professional conference is to serve as the closure of the nearly
year-long joint research that summarises the differing views that have
emerged over NATO enlargement. Organisers also hope they can
contribute to the more unified handling of the complex issues of
European security by publishing the views, the communique said.
Valdo Spini, Chairman of the Italian Chamber of Deputies" Defence
Committee, delivered a lecture on the opening day, in which he said
the Italian-Slovenian-Hungarian peacekeeping units can play a major
role in the crisis management actions in the Eastern European region.
Ferenc Gazdag, director of the Strategic and Defence Research
Institute, said new division lines have come about following the
enlargement of the defence alliance mainly between the countries, now
capable of integration or will become capable of integration in the
near future, and those facing a long road until membership.+++
_Weather Forecast for Tuesday_
hd: Budapest, 13 July (MTI) - Clouds will gradually move in from the
west, while eastern areas will enjoy several hours of sunshine.
Showers, thunder storms and occasional hail initially expected in
western and northern areas, but will progress towards eastern parts of
the country later in the day. Southerly winds will grow strong, at
times to gust force by the afternoon hours, and stormy north-westerly
winds are expected in the country"s western areas.
Highest daytime temperatures are expected to be around 22 degrees
Centigrade in north-western areas, but will be between 29 and 34
degrees Centigrade in other parts. Lowest night-time temperatures are
expected to be between 16 and 21 degrees Centigrade, the National
Weather Service reported.+++
.