OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 221, 14 November 1996

HUNGARIAN PRESIDENT VISITS UKRAINE. Hungarian President Arpad Goncz
began a three-day official visit to Ukraine on 14 November, ITAR-TASS
reported. Goncz will visit Uzhhorod, a Transcarpathian city with a large
Hungarian population. He will also discuss economic relations. The
Hungarian-Ukrainian trade turnover grew from $300 million in 1993 to
$664 million in 1995. Hungarian companies had invested $23.2 million in
the Ukrainian economy by the middle of 1996. -- Oleg Varfolomeyev

HUNGARIAN OIL COMPANY TURNS AGAINST RUSSIAN PARTNER. A senior official
at the Hungarian Oil and Gas Company (MOL) on 13 November criticized
Panrusgaz for its intention to sell natural gas to large-scale consumers
from a new pipeline that is being built through Hungary, Hungarian
dailies reported. MOL officials insist that they have been given the
exclusive right to sell and distribute gas on the domestic market.
Panrusgaz is a joint venture between MOL and the Russian giant Gazprom,
with 50% ownership each. Panrusgaz head Mikhail Rahimkhulov was quoted
in the daily Nepszabadsag on 13 November as saying the joint venture
would sell gas 15-20% cheaper than MOL. In reaction, MOL officials said
that Russian and Hungarian interministerial agreements guarantee that
the new pipeline will be built, owned, and operated by MOL. They added
that Panrusgaz could sell 1 billion cubic meters of gas to Hungarian
consumers from the pipeline, but only through MOL. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

NO PROGRESS IN HUNGARY'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH WTO. No substantial headway
has been made between the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and
the World Trade Organization (WTO) over a major dispute concerning
Hungarian agricultural export subsidies, Hungarian media reported on 13
November. Hungary has been trying to convince Argentina, Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, Thailand and the U.S. -- the six WTO member states
that filed a complaint against Hungary -- to allow the government to
continue subsidizing its deficit-ridden, but large export-revenue-
producing sector. During the Uruguay round of the GATT negotiations,
Hungary undertook to reduce subsidies on agriculture exports but made
its calculations on the basis of erroneous data. The six countries
subsequently filed a complaint with the WTO, saying that Hungarian
agriculture subsidies were well above the levels set by WTO and agreed
upon by Hungary. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Susan Caskie