My name is Deirdre Brown and I am Head of the Trade and Investment Section at the Embassy.  I work in a team of 11 and our role is to help UK based companies succeed in international markets – in this case Hungary.  What this means in practice is that those British companies looking to enter Hungary come to us for advice and practical assistance. Through our chargeable services we can provide them with background information on doing business in Hungary, on possible partners and we can arrange programmes for them. Hungary has a very open economy and so it relies heavily on foreign direct investment and foreign companies to support economic growth.  However, companies will only come to Hungary if they believe their business needs are met, so we also work with other Embassies, chambers and business organisations to maintain a good business environment where bureaucracy is kept to a minimum and trade links can flourish.

We can also advise Hungarian companies looking to invest in the UK on how to go about it and can put them in touch with sector specialists in the UK.  What we can’t do is to help Hungarian companies export to the UK.  This is the role of ITD Hungary and the Hungarian Trade Commission in London.  We work closely with them and are able to swap enquiries should people end up in the wrong place.

As I said, we are a team of 11.  I am the only member who is not bi-lingual.  I do punish my team from time to time by speaking to them in Hungarian but as they all speak such good English I have got very lazy.  It is important, however, that we have a bi-lingual team as it means that we can explore possible business opportunities with Hungarian companies in their own language and this tends to lead more readily to good co-operation.

We work very closely with the British Chamber of Commerce in Hungary.  Most British companies in Hungary belong to the BCCH and it is useful for both networking and also discussing practical issues.  Last week I was at a breakfast at which members of the BCCH had a chance to meet and ask questions of the Minister of Economy – Csaba Kákosy.  For those who are interested in learning more about BCCH here is a link to their website www.bcch.com.

We have a strong focus on developmental training at the Embassy and this week my team had some group training on giving and receiving feedback. We had an outside facilitator who was able to give us an impartial but expert perspective and lots of helpful advice. I think it was a very valuable exercise and we all learnt a great deal.

This weekend is Easter and we get to have a long weekend.  As well as having a rest and enjoying the spring weather I am looking forward to the Easter Bunny’s visit.  I am of course wishing for Cadbury’s chocolate as this is a British product and Cadbury have their regional headquarters in Hungary and are a great supporter of the BCCH. I hope the Easter Bunny is good to all of you too.

Deirdre Brown

Head of Trade and Investment Section
18 March 2008