RFE/RL NEWSLINE 
Vol. 1, No. 78, 22 July1997


MEETING OF SLOVAK, HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS. Zdenka
Kramplova and Laszlo Kovacs, meeting in Komarno, Slovakia, on 21
July, agreed that Slovak Prime Minister Meciar will hold talks with
his Hungarian counterpart, Gyula Horn, in Gyor, Hungary, on 15
August, Slovak and Hungarian media reported. A statement after the
meeting said the prime ministers will focus on European integration
and the implementation of an awaited ruling by the International
Court in The Hague on the controversial Gabcikovo dam project. The
last official meeting between Meciar and Horn was in Paris in early
1995, when they signed a friendship treaty under the auspices of the
EU. Hungarian media report that the two foreign ministers were
unable to agree on a number of issues and that setting the date of
the prime ministers' meeting was the only result of the three-hour
meeting.

HUNGARIAN CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS LOSE PARLIAMENTARY
FACTION STATUS. Ten members of the Christian Democratic People's
Party's (KDNP) parliamentary faction decided to quit the group on 21
July, Hungarian media reported. The KDNP now has only 13 deputies
in the parliament. Under house regulations, the party must have at
least 15 seats in order to qualify as a parliamentary faction. The 10
deputies who quit the KDNP, including party chairman Gyoergy Giczy,
want to establish a new Christian Democratic group. Those who
remain in the faction recently distanced themselves from the party
leadership's policies (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 1997).

HUNGARY EXPANDS ECONOMIC TIES WITH CHINA. Visiting Hungarian
Finance Minister Peter Medgyessy said on 21 July in Beijing that the
Bank of China will shortly open a regional office in Budapest,
Hungarian media reported. At a meeting with Chinese Deputy Prime
Minister Li Lanching, Medgyessy discussed a $40 million credit from
Eximbank to facilitate Hungarian exports to China. The two ministers
agreed to establish in the near future a share-holding company that
would promote bilateral trade and inform Hungarian companies of
Chinese development tenders. Hungary's trade deficit with China was
up 68 percent last year on the 1995 level, exceeding $175 million.


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