NEWSLETTER

2003 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

On 10th June members of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hungary gathered for the AGM in the Rivalda Restaurant. After the welcoming words, AGM continued with the opening speech of our Guest of Honour Ambassador Ron Halpin, which was followed by the annual report of the president of CCCH, Dr. Ildikó Takács.
The most important achievements of the year were the increase of the membership by 35%, 18 successful events with outstanding speakers and Guest of Honours like Ambassador Halpin, Ambassador Tomaj, Minister James M. Flaherty, Canadian Parliamentary Speaker Peter Milliken. The Chamber re-launched and redesigned its website, launched its e-newsletter. This year the Chamber managed to get out of the red and stabilize itself financially, generating enough capital for secure working conditions. CCCH office moved to a new location at the Sóház, and from October had a new Secretary General, Helga Koncz on board.
As Greg Winters, Financial VP unexpectedly but happily joined Ernst&Young Calgary, Mike Carlson, former president of CCCH presented the financial results for 2002 and the financial plan for 2003. The short extract of the presented figures:
2002: total income 19.294.727 HUF, total expenses 20.671.104, loss for the year 1.376.377 HUF; Money on the bank account: May 2002, 2.239.416 HUF, May 2003, 6.400.904 HUF; profit at the end of May; 5.599.612 HUF.
After the annual reports, AGM elected the boardmembers . The Board of CCCH for 2003-2004: Dr Ildikó Takács (Trigránit) president, Kelly Elliott (KPMG), Treasurer, Robert Longworth VP, Membership Issues, Neil M. Berlad (Hayhurst Berlad Robinson) VP, Professional Development Issues, Dr. Farshad Khazei (Foundation) Director, Business Sector Issues, István Zsirai (Zenon) Director, General Business Issues, Darrel Dutton (Weslin), Director, Community Issues, Peter Freed (Dunaelektronika), Director, Communication/Social Issues, Nick Sárvári (CNS Europe), Director, Government Relations/Lobbying.

The work of the Board will be helped by three Directors at Large, Agnes Weninger (Communication), Kai Fejer (Social Issues), Paul Tonelli (Membership), who will focus on specified projects.

After the AGM members and their guests enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere of Rivalda's terrace whilemunching on delicious finger foods and supping fine wines presented by Simon Pinceszet from Eger.

Members of the Head Table from left to right: Neil M. Berlad, Dr. Ildikó Takács, Ambassador Ron Halpin, Mike Carlson, Larry Duffield.

JULY 1ST, 2003, CANADA DAY

The Canadian Community celebrated the 136th Birthday of Canada on 1st July, Tuesday in the Gardens of the Canadian Embassy. The guests were arriving from 4 pm onwards and received Avanglion sunglasses from the courtesy of AMC Marketing, Canadian Maple Syrup from Pannon-Canada. BBQ opened from 5 onwards, on the menu were hot dogs, hamburgs, chicken wings, and salads with all the trimmings. Beer was provided by Dreher, NESTLE' s Schöller delivered the ice cream.

Our two face painters, Rain Van Goozen and Sandra Angus took care of it that none of the participants could leave without a painted maple leaf sign. Bucking Bronco kept the kids busy, though later on adults joined in too, to test their skills.
From 6 pm Jazz Steps quintet played extremely good jazz music to entertain the more than 400 guests gathered for the celebration. At 7pm Ambassador Ron Halpin and CCCH President Dr. Ildikó Takács delivered their festive speeches. The speeches were followed by the Hungarian and Canadian anthems - the Canadian one in English and French at the same time - by two employees of the Canadian Embassy Krisztina Zsombok and Jasmine Seipel - great performance, thank you so much! 3 cakes were served to celebrate Canada's 136th birthday. The celebration ended with fireworks.
We would like to thank the volunteers - Sandra Angus, Rain van Goozen, Theresa Kernahan, Debbie Morrison, Susan Tatrallyay, Murray Angus, Chris Daniels, members of the North American Women's Association for their help and contribution. Special thanks to Joyce Young and Larry Duffield for taking a huge part in the organizing work of the event from early afternoon till late night.

Our sponsors whose contribution made the event even more memorable:

ERNST&YOUNG

A.C. Ernst and Arthur Young were very different people. Young, born in Scotland was privileged and soft-spoken. His interest in investments and banking eventually led him to accounting. In 1906 he founded Arthur Young & Co in the United States. Ernst, born in the United States was basically self-made. After working four year as a bookkeeper he and his brother Theodore started Ernst & Ernst in 1903. Ernst and Young never met in their life but their firms combined in 1989 to create Ernst & Young. The new firm quickly positioned itself on the leading edge of rapid globalization, new business technologies and continuous business change. Today Ernst & Young is one of the four largest professional audit and business-advisory firms with more than 110,000 professionals in 135 countries world-wide. Its culture is formed by the sum of Ernst's and Young's legacy - innovation and drive, sensitivity and concern, honesty and trust.

The Hungarian office was opened in Budapest in 1989 with a staff of 30. The international auditing and consultancy firm Ernst & Whinney formed a joint venture with Bonitas, a Hungarian consultancy firm. This venture, operating under the name Ernst & Whinney Bonitas, pursued very successful activities in both the auditing and the consultancy fields.
As mentioned above, the world's two leading auditing and consultancy firms merged in September 1989. Since both firms were present in Hungary, the two Hungarian offices were joined. Activities continued under the name of Ernst & Young Bonitas until October 1990, when the Hungarian half of the firm spun off. Since then the firm has operated under the name Ernst & Young.

Ernst & Young's involvement in the emerging Hungarian economy began in March 1989. Under leadership of Mr. Adam Tertak, the company developed dynamically and it was reflected in the increasing income and staff number. During the transition period the firm actively participated in the economic restructuring of Hungary, in the privatization process, in the restructuring of state companies, in helping to establish joint ventures and in assisting with the foundation of new enterprises offering auditing and accounting, management consultancy, tax and international business services to our clients. We helped the investments of several foreign companies for example ABN-Amro, Aegon, Alcoa, Amylum, British-American Tobacco, Coca-Cola, EBRD, Gaz de France, Owens Illinois, Reemtsma, Sanofi, Tractebel or United Leaf Tobacco.
In the late 90's the accounting and legal activities were separated into independent companies and the management consulting activity was sold. At the same time the present structure of our services, based on Audit and Assurance, Corporate Finance and Tax advisory, similar to the traditional three-fold profile, was formed. In 2001 the advisory activity was separated with the foundation of Ernst & Young Advisory Ltd.
2002 meant the beginning of some major changes in Ernst & Young's life. That was the year when the two world-leader professional services firms, Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young combined their operations in 55 countries world-wide, including the Central-European region. In 2003, as recognition of his excellent performance as Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Hungary for more than thirteen years, Mr. Tertak was promoted to Chairman of the Hungarian office and took over new responsibilities in the Central Eastern Europe region. The leadership of the Hungarian office was taken over by Ms Borbala Czako. Under her leadership, the Hungarian practice, which is a part of Ernst & Young's Central Europe South Sub-Area (CESSA) Group employs more than 400 professionals to serve our clients.

Grand Opening Ceremony of R&D Centre at Zenon Systems Kft

On 8 May, 2003 we arrived at the next milestone of ZENON history in Hungary: the European R&D Centre of ZENON was opened at Tatabánya, Hungary.
Based on the decision of the Board of Directors of ZENON Environmental Inc. the construction of the R&D centre was started up last September. The new building having a total footing area of over 700 m² includes a laboratory level with analytical and QC laboratory, braiding, ZW testing, spin line testing and development laboratories and a special area for laboratory piloting. The office level provides working stations for 32 people.
The R&D Centre in Tatabánya is aimed at serving the quality control, material and product development tasks of the membrane production facility in Oroszlány and at providing the infrastructural conditions required for ZeeWeed® membrane based application technologies research and development.

At the Opening Ceremony we had such prominent guests as Mr. Imre Szekeres (State Secretary, Presidential Office of Hungarian Government), Mr. András Siegler (Vice State Secretary of Research & Development - Ministry of Education), Mr.László Keviczky (Vice President of Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Mr. Yvon Turcotte (Charge D'affairs, Canadian Embassy in Budapest), Mr. István Agócs (President of Komárom-Esztergom County assembly), Mr. Ferenc Lévay (Vice Mayor of Tatabánya), Mr. Gábor Rajnai (Mayor of Oroszlány). Also about hundred representatives of our partners, clients accepted our invitation to the ceremony and were really impressed by ZENON's growth in Hungary and world-wide.

State Secretary Mr. Imre Szekeres cuts the ribbon at the R&D Centre of Zenon

Yvon Turcotte Charge D'affairs, Canadian Embassy in Budapest, Dr. Andrew Szőnyi, Member of the Board of Directors

We hereby would like to say thank you to the management of ZENON Environmental Inc., especially to Dr. Andrew Benedek , Chairman and CEO and Dr. Andrew Szőnyi, member of the Board of Directors for the trust and support extended to the Hungarian ZENON teams both in Tatabánya and Oroszlány, to Mr. István Zsirai, managing director of ZEM Oroszlány for the great assistance given in organising and co-ordinating the investment.
We all in the Hungarian ZENON teams including also the R&D team members being already on board or joining us in the near future will do our best to meet ZENON Management's expectations, to follow ZENON objectives as included in ZENON Mission Statement and to Continuously Improve Ourselves and the World, to Work as a Team to Win and to Deliver What We promise.

WESTEL Connection Concert

It was already the 8th times for Canadian Chamber Founding Member Westel, the largest Hungarian service provider to organise the Connection concert this year, which turned into the biggest open air music event in Europe featuring Elton John. More than half a million people enjoyed the unforgettable performance of Elton John and popular Hungarian musician Charlie, performing preceding the internationally reputed star. The two hour performance of the British singer, pianist, composer - belonging to the very best of the world of music for several decades - and his five men band was made even more enjoyable by the most sophisticated sound and video technology, the giant projector boards being rare in Europe, as well - technology that also meets the requirements of Westel. The concert of the largest Hungarian mobile service provider took until late in the evening and created fantastic atmosphere, featuring Elton John's well known hits including Sacrifice, I'm Still Standing, Crocodile Rock, Candle In The Wind. The press and media appreciated the show of the star -also abundant in entertainment elements - and the thorough organisation of the event, as well.

Óceán deli-kátesz

Scandinavia House Group has just reached another milestone! Immediately adjacent to the Óceán bár & grill, Budapest's newest and only real fresh seafood restaurant, the new Óceán Deli has opened.

Fresh seafood is received twice weekly from the Mediterranean and Scandinavia, amongst other places by refrigerated trucks or by airfreight. You can buy the freshest salmon filets, whole shark, live lobsters or many different kinds of frozen shrimps and prawns for your table at home. There are also seasonings, special kind of mustard, mayonnaise and other delicacies, not to mention the fantastic baguettes with shrimp in dill sauce for a quick lunch while you're shopping. Soon we will have the best caviar direct from the Caspian Sea for those distinguished tastes, who would afford such delicacies.

Our experienced staff will be able to help you with special kinds of recipes for you to try out at home. We are in the middle of the BBQ season. There is nothing better than a great tuna steak or some nice tiger prawns well seasoned, sizzling in the backyard. It's fresh, it's tasty and very, very healthy!

More and more people eat seafood even here in Hungary. It is a well known fact, that certain acids in fresh seafood reduce the possibility of hardening arteries and keeps your vascular system more flexible. Look after yourself and enjoy it too!
You can obtain all you need in our new seafood deli for a tasty meal at home at reasonable prices and you can be certain, you get the freshest product in town every day.
You can also try our "Ocean Catering Service" for your party at home and spend the time with your guests. We look after everything.

You can find us from 10 am in the morning till 9 pm at night, every day except Sunday, at 1052 Budapest, Petőfi Tér 3, right next to the Óceán bár & grill or phone on 266-1826. There is a wealth of information on our website www.oceanbargrill.com about the seafood offered in the deli, seafood recipes as well as other information about how to buy and store seafood.

'We did it! We did it! We did it!'

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

PRAGUE -- Vancouver, Whistler and all of Canada are cheering Wednesday at news the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be held in British Columbia.

IOC head Jacques Rogge made the announcement as thousands cheered in Vancouver's GM Place and on Whistler's main square. "The International Olympic Committee has the honour of announcing that the 21st Olympic Winter Games in 2010 are awarded to the city of Vancouver," IOC president Rogge said after the second and final ballot.
The vote was extremely close. A South Korean bid was in the lead after the first ballot, but Vancouver pulled ahead by three votes after the Austrian bid was eliminated.
"We did it! We did it! We did it!" yelled Canadian Olympic ski champion Nancy Greene Raine, as the crowd roared in the packed GM Place stadium in downtown Vancouver.
People danced a giant conga line around Whistler Village following the news. About 5,000 people crammed into the Village Square in the centre of Whistler for the announcement.
The Austrian city of Salzburg, considered by many Vancouver's main rival for the Games, was ousted in the first round of voting by IOC delegates earlier in Prague. Vancouver's bid then beat out that of Pyeongchang, South Korea, on the second ballot, in a 56-53 vote.
The decision came through in a video link from Prague at about 8:45 a.m. Pacific time, and was instantly celebrated across Canada, including a big crowd watching from 1988 Olympic host Calgary.
The only other previous Canadian Olympics were the Summer Games of 1976, hosted by Montreal.
Vancouver officials called their proposal the Sea-to-Sky Games, drawing heavily on the city's ocean setting framed by rugged, snow-capped mountains.
The Canadian bid -- which cost $35 million Cdn -- pointed to a sophisticated urban centre on the shores of the Pacific Ocean with a world-class alpine resort just 125 kilometres north. Under the Vancouver plan, hockey, curling, speed skating, freestyle skiing, plus the opening and closing ceremonies would be held in and around the city. Alpine events, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, bobsled and luge will be staged in Whistler.
The final push in Prague, which included 45 official delegates and a multimedia presentation featuring hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, Olympic gold medallist speed skater Catriona Le May Doan, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, cost $875,000.
Bid organizers say a Vancouver Olympics will operate on a budget of $2 billion, with the provincial and federal governments evenly splitting $620 million in costs to build venues and another $200 million for security.
This doesn't include the $600 million the province has promised to upgrade the serpentine Sea-to-Sky Highway linking Vancouver with Whistler.

A capacity crowd at GM Place cheers and waves white towels and flags after the announcement from Prague of the winning B.C. bid. (Global BC)

'Canada celebrated Canada Day yesterday. I think they will celebrate it today too.' -- IOC president Jacques Rogge

Lamy and Pettigrew credit CERT contributions as a valuable resource to enhance bilateral trade and investment

The Canada Europe Round Table for Business (CERT) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit forum for business leaders from Canada and the European Union (EU). Founded in 1999, CERT is recognized by the Canadian government and European Commission as an important contributor to bilateral economic policy formation. They work to promote our company-member interests in Canada and the EU by shaping sound public policy through research, consultation and advocacy.
CCCH has recently established links with the Brussels based business organization Canada Europe Round Table (CERT). This is a part of the initiative by our Chamber to establish links between Canadian Business Organizations in Europe and ourselves. The purpose is information sharing and networking. CERT has welcomed our initiative as a means of identifying a network, which can respond or advise it on common issues involving the EU.
CERT delegates presented working papers on regulatory cooperation, mutual recognition, and competition to EU Trade Commission Pascal Lamy and Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew at the bi-annual Canada-EU Summit on 28 May 2003 in Athens, Greece.

Lamy and Pettigrew agreed upon the importance of CERT's role in voicing the concerns of Canadian and European companies, and encouraged CERT to "push its points." They noted that CERT's efforts reflect an "obvious and favourable exercise" to help shape policy from its conception. In addition, Lamy acknowledged that by taking a proactive approach to policy issues, CERT is providing its membership with the opportunity to access to the policy development process.

Representatives from both Canada and the EU re-affirmed their commitment to develop a new bilateral Trade and Investment Enhancement Agreements (the so-called CEUTIEA). They agreed to a joint action plan toward a regulatory co-operation framework with the aim of eliminating unnecessary barriers to trade and investment, and welcomed the joint EU-Canada seminar on regulatory co-operation on 26 June in Brussels entitled, "Enhancing Partnership and Dialogue." The architecture of the CEUTIEA is to be finalized by the next Canada-EU Summit meeting in Ottawa in December 2003.

Although the Canada-EU relationship was the focus of the Summit, both parties acknowledged that the current WTO round is a top priority, specifically, the upcoming WTO Cancun Ministerial Conference in September 2003.

The following day, before a lunch gathering of over 200 Greek and Canadian representatives, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien voiced his continued support for enhanced trade and investment relations with the European Union.

CANADIAN STARS SHINE IN WALK OF FAME CEREMONIES

Canadian Press

Toronto - Lorne Michaels, native son and Saturday Night Live founder, says it's the fussiness of his fellow Canadians that enhances the honour of being chosen to be immortalized on the Canadian Walk of Fame.
Michaels is one of 11 Canadians whose names were added Wednesday to the stretch of sidewalk that winds through the city's downtown theatre district, bringing the total now to 75.
The others getting their concrete slabs and honoured at a telecast gala at Roy Thomson Hall include former NHL coach Scotty Bowman, figure skater Toller Cranston, Olympic equestrian Jim Elder, fashion supermodel Linda Evangelista, cartoonist Lynn Johnston, actor-comic Mike Myers, songwriter-playwright Luc Plamondon, rocker Robbie Robertson, comedian-actor-director David Steinberg and pop star Shania Twain.
Despite a droll, seen-it-all demeanour - the kind of mellowness that inspired Myers to create his Dr. Evil character for the Austin Powers movies - Michaels insisted he was very excited.
"Not to say Canadians are in any way stingy with praise, but it's a fairly high bar to be acknowledged in Canada," he said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles before flying to Toronto for the induction. "Particularly if you are a Canadian, and on that level alone it's very pleasing."
Michaels recalled the old saying that a poet or philosopher is seldom recognized in his own town and by his own kind. "And I think knowing how fussy people can be, in that sense it's touching."
He was also reminded how proud the Canadian walk organizers are that, unlike the Hollywood Walk of Fame, celebrities here don't have to pay to have their star in concrete. Instead, the Canadian honour is based on a body of work that has to go back at least 10 years.
If that means Canadians have more integrity, he said, then so be it.
"My point is, there's a very thin line between integrity and pettiness."
Michaels also has a star on Hollywood Boulevard and joked that he keeps a full-time security force on duty to ensure it's clean and protected. Perhaps, he added, they can shuttle back and forth to Toronto to maintain the star here.

Michaels said he wouldn't miss the Toronto celebration, despite lingering concerns in the entertainment industry south of the border about the city's recent SARS crisis.
"I must say when I was asked to throw out the ball for the Blue Jays-Yankees opening day . . . and it was at the peak, I did think about it a little."
He was asked if that was the game where they sold tickets for $1 so the stands would look full on American television. "It might well be, I don't know. It was a full house and I thought it had to do with me."
The induction event was also a mini-SNL reunion. Former cast member Dan Aykroyd agreed to formally present Michaels with his award during the TV gala. And Myers was also to be feted by the municipal government, with not only a key to the city but a street named after him in Scarborough, the suburb where he grew up.
SCTV was represented, too, with Andrea Martin chosen to emcee and Joe Flaherty to introduce Steinberg.
This was the first year since its inception in 1997 that all of the inductees have agreed to attend, a testament, organizers say, to the event's growing prestige. Plans call for some deceased Canadians to be added to the honour roll later this year, but it was thought that for now, 11 live ones were plenty.

Event	Date	Type	Settlement
Sopron Festival Weeks	June 20-July 13.	Cultural event	Sopron
Gyula Castle Theatre Evenings	June 27-Aug. 10.	Theatre	Gyula
Visegrad International Palace Games	July 11-July 13.	Other Event	Visegrád
Szeged Open-air Festival	July 11-Aug. 20.	Festival	Szeged
Baja Celebration of the People, A celebration of Fishsoup in the Capital of Fishsoup	July12.	Gastronomic event	Baja
The Egri Bikavér Celebration on Saint Doatius Day	July 10-July 13.	Wine,vintage	Eger
Végvár Merrymakig in Eger	July 19-July 27	Other event	Eger
Festival in Baroque Eger	July 25-Aug.15.	Festival	Eger
Sziget Festival	July 30-Aug. 6.	Festival	Budapest
"In the Footsteps of Royal Chefs"	July 31-Aug.02.	Gastronomic event	Nagyszakácsi


	July 2003 - 10th Anniversary