The Hungarian Economic Association (MKT) elected Gyula Pleschinger, a member of the Monetary Council of Magyar Nemzeti Bank, as its President on Friday, 15 May, for another three years. Éva Hegedüs, Chairperson and CEO of GRÁNIT Bank Zrt., will continue to act as Secretary General of the 126-year-old professional and scientific association, which has appr. 3,200 members, now in the third term.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, one of the oldest NGOs on the continent held its new officer election meeting on the Internet in an unusual way. Delegates from MKT’s county organisations and sections approved the association’s annual report and this year’s financial plan. On behalf of the outgoing presidium, President Gyula Pleschinger and Secretary General Éva Hegedüs gave a summary to the delegates on the results of the past three years of the Hungarian Economic Association. They recalled that in the current term of the presidium, the Association, whose 24 sections and 17 county organisations continues to await those interested at appr. 80-100 professional events a year (conferences, lectures, roundtable discussions) had three roaming conferences of economists, successful both professionally and in terms of the number of participants (Eger, Debrecen and Nyíregyháza).
MKT’s international relations have also reached a new level in this three-year cycle. In summer 2017, the Association participated in the 18th World Congress of Economists in Mexico with a separate section and organised several professional conferences and forums together with the European Economic and Social Committee. The co-operation agreement concluded with the economic associations of the Visegrad countries in spring 2018 has already resulted in three major international conferences, and MKT joined the V4 Economic Olympics initiative for the first time in 2019, with a team of Hungarian students doing well in the Prague final.
MKT’s relations with sister organisations beyond our borders have also strengthened. An important result of the joint work is that, following the example of the MNB Scholarship of Excellence, the Pallas Athens Excellence Scholarship Programme was launched in 2018 at the initiative of the Hungarian Economic Association to support the most talented Hungarian economics students across the border. Another important step forward is that in 2019 the organisation of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Economic Association started at the Ferenc Rákóczi II. Hungarian College in Beregovo (Beregszász), Transcarpathia.
The expanding programme offer was concomitant with organisational developments in the life of MKT. In the last three years, four new sections (European Union; Demography; Fintech and Financial Culture, Real Estate Market) have started their work, and the Public Finance Section was also reorganised. The company currently has 3,200 members and is growing steadily.
As a result of the new officer election, with the unanimous decision of the delegates, the new members of the 22-member presidium of the Hungarian Economic Association for the next three-year term are Gergely Baksay, Head of the MNB’s Budget and Competitiveness Analysis Directorate; Etele Baráth, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee, former Minister of European Affairs, President of the Development Policy Division of the MKT; József Molnár, CEO of MOL Zrt. and Zsolt Selmeczi-Kovács, CEO of GIRO Zrt.
Photo: Gyula Pleschinger Gyula, President, Éva Hegedüs, General Secretary and Árpád Kovács, Eternal Honorary President
Related documents:
MKT’s 2019 report and public benefit annex (zip)
Three-year professional report (pdf)
MKT presidium and Supervisory Board 2020–2023 (pdf)