I spent Tuesday in Kecskemet, also known as the “Famous City”, the “City of Tolerance” (on account of the large number of churches in the centre) and, informally, the “Capital of Art Nouveau” – and there are certainly some splendid examples of secessionist architecture there.
In addition to meeting the Vice Mayor (photo above), the President of the County Assembly and the Government Commissioner – and to visiting the splendid new Mercedes plant to discuss the automobile sector in Hungary – I went to Kecskemet’s Incubator House, which provides floorspace and other support to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Back in the early 1990’s, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales took a close interest in this initiative. He also visited the project in 1994. Recognising that a strong SME sector was critical to the successful economic transformation of Hungary from Communism to a market economy, the British Government of the day made a sizeable financial contribution to the Incubator House, through the UK “Know-How Fund” for Hungary. Since then there have been numerous successful SMEs who have passed through the House. It is struggling financially in the current economic climate, but its role remains extremely important. Improving growth continues to depend in large part on having good and innovative SMEs who display entrepreneurial spirit and the Incubator House can give them a great start in life.
My day ended at the excellent Kecskemet Public Library, a long-standing partner of the British Council, where I helped launch a new exhibition of contemporary UK literature. The publishing sector continues to make a substantial contribution to the UK economy – some £1.2 billion in 2009, for example, when 763 million British books were exported abroad. Aside from the simple pleasure books provide, reading English literature in the original can help tremendously in learning English as a foreign language. It is striking that in just one month, one million copies of one of the Harry Potter novels in English were sold in Germany alone. I wish the Hungarian members of Kecskemet Library great pleasure in exploring the literary treats in the exhibition.