Tuesday, 26 March 1996 Volume 1, Issue 316
REGIONAL NEWS
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BRITISH MONARCH MAKES FIRST-EVER VISIT TO POLAND
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth on Monday began a visit to Poland
greeted by both countries as a tribute to Poland's reforms since
the 1989 fall of communism and a sign it is drawing closer to
Europe's mainstream. The queen and her husband Prince Philip
landed at Warsaw's airport and were driven to Warsaw's
presidential palace. Highlights of the trip, the first by a
British monarch in a thousand years of Poland's history, include
a Tuesday speech to both chambers of parliament expected to
stress support for Poland's key aspirations to join the European
Union and NATO. These issues were also to be the focus of talks
between Britain's Foreign Minister Malcolm Rifkind and Polish
leaders. But for newspapers and the public, the main interest
was the glamour of royalty, with columns of print devoted to
official menus, the right way to curtsey and where to see the
queen during two walkabouts in Warsaw and Krakow old towns.
Polish newspapers also reported that the queen and the prince
were descended from 15th century Polish king Kazimierz
Jagiellonczyk, leading the leftist satirical weekly to advise
its many readers to greet her with shouts of: "Hello Auntie."
Several events in the state visit, one of only two made by the
queen each year, will also cement a relationship built up during
World War Two, when 250,000 Poles served under British command
and after which many remained in exile in Britain.
Representatives of the Poles who made up one in eight Royal Air
Force pilots in the 1940 Battle of Britain attended a
wreath-laying ceremony on Monday at Warsaw's Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier. British officials said the queen did not have time to
go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the death camp where German occupiers
killed more than a million people, mostly Jews, during the war.
But, following appeals from British Jews last week to mark the
Holocaust, she laid a wreath on Monday at a monument in Warsaw's
former Ghetto at the Umschagplatz, the railway sidings from
which the Nazis took the city's Jews to be killed. A theme of
the trip is to boost economic ties -- Britain is only the sixth
largest investor in Poland although its total is rising and
bilateral trade grew last year by 30 percent. The queen, whose
trips to Hungary in 1993 and Moscow in 1994 set a royal stamp of
approval on Eastern Europe's transformation, is to go on to
Prague on Wednesday.
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BOSNIAN REFUGEES TO RETURN AFTER BEATING RED TAPE
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The UNHCR's first organised return of Bosnian refugees from
outside the former Yugoslavia will take place today after four
months of bureaucracy and delay. According to the International
Organisation for Migration, the 54 refugees, mainly Bosnian
Moslems, are due to leave the Hungarian refugee camp of Nagyatad
for Tuzla in northeast Bosnia. They will be transported in two
buses accompanied by a truck to carry their belongings on an
eight-town route through the Bosnian Federation sector from
Bihac, via Zenica, to Tuzla. All have relatives or friends to
vouch for them and will be met off the bus, two important
preconditions for inclusion in the programme. After the
refugees first applied in November to the Bosnian embassy in
Budapest to return home, the authorities in Sarajevo demanded
details of sponsors in Bosnia whom they then checked before
permitting the returns in January. However, the next step,
getting permission to cross Croatia, took even longer. The
Croats originally insisted the application for individual
transit visas be made by Sarajevo. Nothing happened for two
months until in March they suddenly told the UNHCR in Zagreb
they were prepared to issue a collective permit for the whole
group. For Phillippe Labreveux, the UNHCR's representative in
Hungary the whole experience has been exasperating. He says it
makes a mockery of the Dayton plans for bringing home the
refugees. The logical question to be asked is if it takes four
months to organise the return of 54 people how long will it take
to return the other 200,000? According to Labreveux, the UNHCR
will meet on April 1st to address just that question when they
review the whole voluntary repatriation programme.
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OECD MEMBERSHIP MAY SMOOTH HUNGARY'S PATH INTO EU
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Hungary's upcoming membership of the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) will smooth the country's way
into the European Union (EU) and improve investor confidence,
Hungarian analysts said on Monday. A eremony welcoming Hungary
as the 27th member of the rich nations' club is to take place on
March 29 in Paris, the OECD announced on Friday. Hungary expects
to open negotiations on joining the EU following the union's
inter-governmental conference, which is planned to begin on
Friday and last for about one year. Hungary hopes to attain full
membership by the year 2000. Minister for Industry and Trade
Imre Dunai said late last week that the OECD membership was a
condition of joining the EU, since both organisations have
similar requirements. Friday's ceremony is not likely to send
Hungary's markets soaring as the positive impact had already
made itself felt during the period of anticipation of OECD
membership. The measures which Hungary has taken to meet the
OECD's requirements included the reduction of its soaring budget
and current account deficits in 1995, making its forint
convertible in January and reaching an agreement with the
International Monetary Fund about a standby loan on March 15.
Hungary will be the second ex-Communist country to join the OECD
after the Czech Republic, which became a member in December.
Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia are expected to follow
the Czechs and the Hungarians into the OECD over the next few
years.
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HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT IN EGYPT
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Hungarian President Arpad Goncz arrived in Cairo on Monday and
had talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak. Egyptian
Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said they discussed the Middle East
peace process, Bosnia and eastern Europe. Goncz laid a wreath
at the tomb of the unknown soldier on Monday and later during
his three-day visit he will reopen a renovated agricultural
museum built by Hungarians 50 years ago. Egypt and Hungary will
sign three cooperation agreements. Egyptian officials said Egypt
hoped to redress the imbalance of trade, which is about $27
million a year in Hungary's favour.
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MADONNA ARRIVES IN HUNGARY TO FILM "EVITA"
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U.S. pop idol Madonna flew into Budapest in the early hours of
Monday morning amid tight security to begin six weeks of filming
for Alan Parker's movie "Evita". As the private plane landed,
reporters and photographers were kept well away. Madonna,
wearing black knee-length boots, descended the steps under an
umbrella held over her by a security guard, despite the absence
of any rain. She was then whisked directly from the airport
tarmac to an undisclosed hotel destination. The film, which is
expected to be released in December, is based on Andrew Lloyd
Webber's musical "Evita." Parker said on Saturday he chose
Budapest for some of the shooting because of its similarity to
the streets of Buenos Aires in the 1940's when Evita, the second
wife of populist President Juan Peron, was Argentine first lady
and a hero of the masses. Other stars in the film include
Spaniard Antonio Banderas who plays a character called "Che" and
British actor Jonathan Pryce in the role of Peron. Both arrived
ahead of Madonna after a controversial seven-week shoot in
Argentina. Madonna's casting as Eva Peron drew strong criticism
from old-guard Peronists who said the pop star's sexual antics
on stage with a crucifix and nude poses were an insult to their
idol. A poor girl from the provinces, Evita won fierce loyalty
for her charity work and her passionate appeals on behalf of
workers before dying of cancer in 1952 at the age of 33. Though
not expected the only note of controversy in the Hungarian
capital could be over street scenes involving crowds confronting
tanks, which observers say may evoke painful memories among the
older generation of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising which was
crushed by the Soviet Union. But not even tanks are likely to
crush some Hungarians exciement and curiousity over the arrival
of the Material Girl.
BUSINESS NEWS
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HUNGARY SAYS NO PLANS TO BOOST BEEF EXPORTS
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Hungary is not planning to export more beef to fill the gap left
by the international ban on deliveries of British beef. Even if
Hungary wanted to take advantage of the crisis, they couldn't.
According to Agriculture Ministry official Balazs Tarjan,
although Hungarian beef is safe, there is little scope for
increasing exports. Hungary's number of livestock is only
around 940,000 and exports figures are small, only 25,000 tonnes
of beef livestock and 1,000 tonnes of beef for 1995. Hungary
has already notified the European Union, that Hungarian beef and
beef products are safe from mad cow disease. More importantly,
Hungarians are not at risk, because no British beef has come
into the country for human consumption since the mid-eighties
after the Agricultural Ministry imposed a ban on British beef.
At this point in time Hungarian farmers are unlikely to invest
in more cattle because it's unclear whether the international
market will require a replacement for the missing British beef
exports. The reason, according to Agricultural officials, is
the possibility that the news from Britain will result in
customers across the continent cutting down on their intake or
giving up beef altogether.
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OIL FLOW RESUMES TO HUNGARY VIA DRUZHBA PIPELINE
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Russian oil has resumed flowing to Hungary through Ukraine's
section of the Druzhba pipeline after a 10-day interruption,
officials said on Monday. Daily flows to the Czech Republic and
Slovakia stood at 28,000, the same level as when supplies were
resumed to those countries last week. Oil flows to east
European countries were halted on March 15 as Russian and
Ukrainian negotiators tried to resolve differences over Kiev's
imposition of higher transit tariffs. Ukrainian officials said
Russia agreed at the weekend to the new tariff of $5.20 per
tonne, subject to volumes, after initially rejecting the figure.
There has so far been no official announcement confirming the
deal.
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PHARMACEUTICALS, FOTEX PUSH BUX INDEX UP
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Hungarian share prices closed mixed on the Budapest Stock
Exchange on Monday but traders said the market opened the week
in a good athmosphere amid foreign investors' active buying.
The BUX index closed at 2,391.51 points, up 15.55. Spot share
turnover rose to 960.8 million forints from 748.9 million on
Friday. The pharmaceuticals' rises featured the session,
traders said, adding that a 140-forint surge of Egis to a new
all-time high of 5,800 forints could be attributed to higher
offers and bids by London-based brokerages. An other
pharmaceuticals maker, Richter, rose less sharply and ended at
4,940 forints, up 45, retreating from the daily peak of 4,945.
Analysts are attributing Richter's rise to psychological reasons
rather than anything else, saying the surge of Egis, traded
before Richter, had its favourable impact. The market's newest
issue, chemical company Borsodchem BDCD.BU is perhaps the only
(key) share for which no substantial demand has emerged from
abroad. Traders were optimistic about the market outlook,
saying they saw signs for an upward move after sideways trade
last week. Traders' opinions are divided on whether Hungary's
upcoming membership in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) will have an immediate positive impact on
prices or not. The agreement about Hungary's joining to the OECD
is to be signed on Friday.
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