István Lepsényi, Secretary of State for Economic Development and Regulation and other high-level representatives of the Ministry for National Economy (NGM) met the AmCham delegation led by AmCham president Dr. Farkas Bársony on February 15, 2018 at the first AmCham-Ministry for Economy quarterly strategic working group meeting in 2018.
At the meeting, State Secretary István Lepsényi welcomed AmCham representatives and thanked AmCham for preparing and sharing the “Cooperation for a more competitive Hungary 2018” recommendation package with the Government for the third time. He said that the annually published recommendations along with the series of strategic working group meetings provide a stable and efficient framework for the regular dialogue between our organizations. AmCham President Dr. Farkas Bársony emphasized that AmCham very much appreciates all the support and cooperation State Secretary Lepsényi and his team provide to AmCham on competitiveness issues.
The agenda of the meeting included the evaluation of Hungary’s current macroeconomic environment by State Secretary Lepsényi, the review of policy progress and joint projects in a number of topics since our last meeting held in October 2017, and the discussion on the General Business Climate recommendations presented by representatives of the Board, the Investment PTF, the Tax Committee and the Electronic Manufactureres’ Committee. Details of the following points were shared and discussed:
- further advancement of the Invented in Hungary paradigm shift
- recommendations regarding a competitive and predictable tax regime
- the support of the operation of Shared Service Centers (SSCs), including the expansion of high value-added activities in particular by providing a supportive regulatory environment.
Expert level consultations will continue to take place. The Ministry expressed its openness to several issues rasied, including the increased support of investments targeting the southern regions of Hungary, the increased focus and promotion of circular economy and the identification and support of the SSC sector.
The discussion on details of second and third chapter (Competitive Workforce and Competitive Education; Innovation and R&D) will be on the agenda of the next meeting, which is planned to be held in June 2018.