In less than two weeks’ time, on Thursday 21 September, from 10am, the 61st Itinerant Congress of Economists will kick off in Eger with a roundtable discussion on economic policy between György Matolcsy, Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, Mihály Varga, Minister of Finance, and Péter Ákos Bod, Professor of Economics. The largest annual conference of the Hungarian economics profession, the Hungarian Economic Association (HEA) is expecting around 700 Hungarian economists from the Carpathian Basin to attend.

Some interesting facts about this year’s conference:

  • The Heves County Organisation of the MKT was founded in 1971, and already then, in 1971, Eger hosted its 10th anniversary congress! Interestingly, the Hungarian Economic Society also held its 50th jubilee Economists’ Congress in Eger. The last time, six years ago, Eger hosted a lecture by Nobel Prize-winning economist Tom Sargent.
  • Perhaps the most anticipated part of this year’s 61st Economists’ Meeting will be a panel discussion with György Matolcsy, President of the Central Bank, Mihály Varga, Minister of Finance, and Péter Ákos Bod, Professor of Economics, at the opening plenary session, where a mobile app will also allow the audience to ask questions.
  • The closing plenary session will also feature a keynote speech by Márton Nagy, Minister of Economic Development, and it will be particularly interesting to hear the views of Gabriella Heiszler, CEO of SPAR, one of the largest retail chains in Hungary, on the impact of inflation and government measures to curb inflation on the retail sector.
  • This year, there will also be a Bank CEOs’ Roundtable: this time, the CEOs and Deputy CEOs of MBH Bank, Erste, CIB, OTP and GRÁNIT Bank will take part in the discussion and debate the situation of the banking sector, moderated by MNB Deputy Governor Barnabás Virág.
  • Of particular interest is that experts from the Central Statistical Office will present the results of the 2022 census for the first time at this year’s Economists’ Meeting, in the labour section.
  • As the city of Eger is hosting the conference, there will of course also be a wine section, with the participation of renowned winemakers from Eger, Villány and Tokaj, among others.
  • The conference will also be attended by the leaders and members of the Hungarian Economists’ Societies of Romania, Slovakia and Vojvodina, who will also speak in the section on the demographic situation of the Hungarian population in the Carpathian Basin.
  • Several sessions this year will also address the issue of artificial intelligence. In a session on the control aspects of the topic, Ferenc Vágujhelyi, President of the National Council of Communications and Information Technology, who is also President of the National Tax and Customs Administration, will speak.
  • The owners of no less than seven Olympic gold medals will be the main protagonists of the sports economics session of the 61st Economists’ Congress. The situation of Hungarian sport between two world events, after the World Athletics Championships and before the Paris Olympics, will be discussed by four of our Olympic champions. Pál Schmitt, former President of the Republic, National Sportsman of the Nation, two-time Olympic champion in the sport of fencing; László Fábián, Secretary General of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, Olympic pentathlete in Seoul; Gabriella Szabó, three-time Olympic champion in kayaking; and Krisztián Berki, Professional Director of the Hungarian Gymnastics Federation, member of the Board of the Sports Economics Section of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, Olympic champion gymnast.
  • The conference programme will be enriched by 9 pre-recorded sessions, which will be recorded during the days and will be published on the conference website and on the HEA YouTube and podcast channels at the beginning of the conference on 21 September.
  • In total, around 150 speakers will share their ideas with the audience in two plenary sessions, 16 on-site sessions and 9 pre-recorded sessions.
  • The Hungarian Economic Association expects a total of around 700 participants to attend the conference in Eger, and we are confident that 10-15 thousand will follow our live webcasts

The full, detailed programme of the conference is available at https://kozgazdasz-vandorgyules.blog.hu/.

To register for the 61st Itinerant Congress, please visit https://forms.gle/DuYaPBn3o3533EUu9. Registration closes on Thursday 14 September.