To close down a banner year of the Chamber, in a festive manner, we would like to invite all our members to our

Chritmas Cocktail to be held on 16th of December, Tuesday 5.30-7.30 pm at Ocean Bar and Grill Restaurant (V. Petőfi tér 3.)

As a Christmas present, we will arrange a draw, and the lucky winners can spend a long week-end at four star hotels: Gróf Apponyi Kastélyszálló, Hőgyész; Hunguest Hotel Pelion, Tapolca, Kolping Hotel Alsópáhok, Radisson SAS Birdland Resort&Spa, and a mediterrenean weekend in Aquaticum Thermal and Wellness Hotel Debrecen, from the courstesy of the hotels. Do not forget to bring your business cards!

A time to wish Good Cheer to other Chamber members at the start of this Holiday Season!

Most, if not all, of Budapest's Scottish expat community gathered at Le Meridien Budapest to celebrate St Andrew's night on November 29. During the four-course meal which included smoked salmon from Scotland, cock-a-leekies soup, roasted venison, all finished off with whisky and raspberry flavored Cranachan, the 130 guests enjoyed the stunning performance of pipes and drums by the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band, this year's World Champions from Edinburgh, and the traditional Scottish dancing, the Ceiledh. The musicians accepted the hotel's invitation to perform because both an earlier afternoon tea given for 100 disadvantaged children and the dinner were charity events. Proceeds from the dinner go to the International Children's Safety Service, which is this year's beneficiary of Tesco's charity program. Guest of honor of the evening was His Excellency John Nichols.

At 8.30 am on Wednesday morning guests were arriving to Ganz utca, for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Canada Square Building, future site of the Canadian Embassy in Budapest, Hungary. Mr. Paul Dubois, Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mr. Gábor Szentiványi, Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Mr. Csaba Horváth, Mayor of the Second District of Budapest, Ms. Marta Moszczenska, former ambassador of Canada, Mr. Michael Danagher, Chargée d' Affaires of Canada, movie director Károly Makk, artist László László Révész, were welcomed by Dr. Ferenc Bartha, representative of Canada Square Kft.

The event began with the opening remarks of Michael Danagher, followed by the speech of Gábor Szentiványi, Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and Dr. Ferenc Barta.

Subsequently, the groundbreaking ceremony took place. A time capsule containing the plans of the house, Canadian and Hungarian coins, two dailies and a weekly paper, today's Népszabadság and Magyar Nemzet and the latest Budapest Sun; a script of the Hungarian film-maker Károly Makk, and a drawing of the contemporary Hungarian painter László László Révész, who studied a time in Canada was buried under a granite stone with inscription "Canada Square".

Construction of the building has commenced and will be completed by December 2004.

On 18th of November a Canadian Government Delegation headed by Mr. Paul Dubois, Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada arrived to Budapest.

The purpose of the visit was meet with government counterparts and other partners in Hungary, to explore the building of new bridges between our nations and the opportunities we encounter today, both in the face of modern Canada and in the changing face of Europe. The visit to Hungary was part of the Canadian delegations' three-week tour of the ten countries slated to join the European Union in May 2004.

As the most ambitious enlargement of the European Union becomes reality in 2004, Europe effectively will represent, among other things, an even major share of world trade. On the eve of accession to the European Union, Canada is committed to cooperating closely with Hungary to achieve our common goals in a number of areas, from business and international security, to trade and culture.

While in Hungary, the Canadian delegation - led by Canada's Departments of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Industry, Human Resources Development, Citizenship and Immigration, Heritage, Export Development, as well as agencies for International Development and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - met with high-level government officials, representatives of the Canadian-Hungarian business community, NGOs and academics in order to raise awareness of the wide-ranging relations that Canada has developed with the EU over the last three decades and sensitize Hungarian policy-makers of new forms of cooperation accessible in the new EU context.

The Canadian Embassy in partnership with CEU organized three thematic roundtables for the delegation with the participation of Professors, NGOs and business people. The purpose of the discussion was to have an exchange between the non-governmental sector of Hungary and the Canadian government about the shape and form fo relations between Canada and the enlarged Europe.
At 4.30 Mr. Paul Dubois made his speech on building bridges between Canada and Hungary, the relationship between Canada and Europe in the Auditorium of CEU that was followed by a reception. The text of the speech is available from CCCH office.

Canadian Defence Business Delegation visited Hungary between November 5-7, 2003 with participation of 10 Canadian organisations, including private companies, Canadian Defence Industries Association as well as National Defence, NRC Institute for Aerospace Research, EDC and CCC. The main purpose of the mission was to promote Canadian Capabilities in the Defence sector and to raise awareness amongst Canadian defence companies of opportunities in Hungary as a new NATO country. The delegation met high level military and industry decisionmakers. At the same time the Canadian Embassy participated at C + D 2003 Central European Defence Equipment and Aviation Exhibition in Budapest with four Canadian co-exhibitors. During the Conference of the Fair Vice President of Canadian Defence Industries Association delivered a presentation on the Canadian Defence Industry. On the occasion of Canada's participation at C+D 2003 Embassy and two of the coexhibitors hosted a Reception at the Official Residence of Ambassador Halpin.