Debrecen will host the 56th Itinerant Conference of Economists taking place on 6 – 8 September 2018. The largest annual conference of Hungarian economists, following last year’s, will return to the City of Debrecen once more: during the three-day event held jointly with the Hungarian Economic Association of Romania in 2017 more than 90 presentations were delivered to approximately 700 participants. This year the Hungarian Economic Association organising the event expect at least 900 economists from the Carpathian Basin and the Visegrad Countries.

‘With last year’s itinerant conference taking place in Eger we set the bar rather high’, said Éva Hegedüs, Secretary General of the Hungarian Economic Association, CEO and President of GRANIT Bank Zrt, adding that last September’s recording-breaking itinerant conference delivered two plenary sessions and 17 section meetings during the course of three days, involving over 160 speakers sharing their views with almost 900 attendees. Therefore the conference was unique in view of the number of participants, as well as its speakers and sections alike. Éva Hegedüs considered it important that, in agreement with the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), more than one hundred economics students, including those receiving MNB Scholarship of Excellence as well as members of the youth sections of the HEA also took part in the discussions. The Secretary General of HEA pointed out that the speakers included a Nobel Prize winner economist for the first time in the 124-year history of the Association:  Professor Thomas J. Sargent attracted full house, while the live video streaming of the conference was followed by hundreds through a dedicated Facebook page.

‘Records are made to inspire new ones’, added the President of the Hungarian Economic Association, speaking of this year’s event. Gyula Pleschinger, member of the Monetary Council emphasized that the itinerant conference of economists was a flagship among the approximately 80-100 professional events organised annually, expecting even more participants this year than in 2017. Based on the scheduled professional programme, breaking another record does not even seem unimaginable: in September 2018 the Kölcsey Centre in Debrecen will hold two plenary sessions and 19 section meetings, the latter focusing on issues such as the growth potentials of Hungarian economy, stock exchange strategies in the post-Brexit East-Central Europe, the current trends of the insurance market, the post-2020 budget outlook of the European Union, or the correlations existing between innovation and employment. As Gyula Pleschinger pointed out, the speakers of the conference will traditionally include György Matolcsy, Governor of the National Bank of Hungary and Mihály Varga, Minister of Finance, alongside others expected to deliver speeches, such as Günther Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Budget and Liam Benham, Vice President of IBM Europe. The President of the HEA added that while last year’s conference focused on competitiveness, the central issue of this year’s itinerant conference taking place in Debrecen will be education and vocational training in the context of national economy.

The continuously updated and extended programme of the 56th Itinerant Conference of Economists can be accessed at the website http://kozgazdasz-vandorgyules.blog.hu.

The online registration starts at the same website in the first half of July.