Washington, DC – On May 3, 2016, the Hungarian American Coalition (Coalition) will host its 12th annual Gala Dinner at the House of Sweden in Washington, D.C. This year’s Gala also marks the 25th anniversary of the Coalition, founded in 1991 to provide advocacy and community leadership.
At the Gala dinner, the Coalition’s Board will recognize Dr. János Martonyi, Hungary’s Former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Dr. János Martonyi at the Coalition’s annual Mikulás Dinner on December 4, 2009
Dr. Martonyi, who is a Doctor of Law and Political Sciences and university professor, was born in Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca, Romania) in April 1944. He grew up in Szeged, Hungary, where he graduated Summa cum Laude in 1967. He also studied international trade law at the City of London College in 1968, and at The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands in 1970. He gained his PhD in Law and Political Sciences in 1979 from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Between 1984 and 1994 he held positions in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and in the Ministry of Trade, then served as Administrative State Secretary in the Ministry for International Economic Relations and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2002 until 2009, he was attorney and managing partner at Baker & McKenzie’s office in Budapest. He was the Foreign Minister of Hungary during the first and second governments of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (1998–2002, 2010–2014).
Since 1987 he has taught at various universities, including Budapest’s ELTE University, the Szeged University of Sciences, the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium, and Natolin (Warsaw, Poland), and the Central European University in Budapest. He is a member of the Batthyány Circle of Professors and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Dr. Martonyi is an international arbitrator and member of the Panel of Arbitrators of ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes). Currently, he also serves as President of the Board of Trustees of the Centre for Democracy Public Foundation.
Dr. János Martonyi was awarded the Commander’s Cross with the Star of the Order of Merit of Hungary, the National Order of the Legion of Honour and National Order of Merit of France, as well as British, Austrian, Polish and Bulgarian state decorations. In 2016, Dr. Martonyi was awarded the Széchenyi Prize for his work in the fields of international economic relations and European law.
Dr. Martonyi is author of numerous articles in the fields of international economic and trade law, competition law, European integration, and global regulation. A long-time friend of the Hungarian American Coalition, Dr. Martonyi was the Coalition’s guest during five days of meetings and speaking engagements in Washington in December 2009, including the Mikulás Dinner.
For more information on past events, please see video with Dr. Martonyi.