Balázs Kiss from Verseg, Hungary arrived to Washington this fall and will spend 3 months at International Tax and Investment Center’s (ITIC) Energy Growth and Security (EGS) Program. With HIF’s support, the Hungarian American Coalition’s Internship Program will be hosting eight interns in 2018 to provide first-hand experience at various Washington-based institutions. Internship participants are also expected to complete a Coalition research project that enables them to become familiar with the Hungarian-American community.
Balázs Kiss
Balázs’s host institution is International Tax and Investment Center’s (ITIC) Energy Growth and Security (EGS) Program, headed by Dr. Ariel Cohen focuses on infrastructure investments, natural resources, and energy transformations unfolding in Eurasia and around the world. ITIC encourages tax, trade and investment policies that enhance economic growth in non-OECD countries by facilitating mutual understanding and trust between business and government through the ITIC “neutral table,” where stakeholders convene to discuss academic analyses, policy studies and international best practices.
Balázs Kiss holds an undergraduate degree in International Relations from Corvinus University (Budapest, Hungary) and now he is pursuing graduate studies in International Public Management at Sciences Po (Paris, France). Balázs is also a member of Mathias Corvinus Collegium’s (MCC) Leadership Program. Throughout his university studies, Balázs aimed to supplement his theoretical knowledge with practical experience, so he interned at the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, and he was a consultant of Globono Paris, working for ACTED, the second biggest French NGO.
“I am fascinated with the international scope of the Coalition Internship Program, its networking opportunities, and the fact that it specifically focuses on US-Hungarian relations. That is a field that I have already been working in at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest.”
Currently, Balázs is a writer and editor covering East-Asian and European affairs at The Policy Corner, a Berlin-based platform for students and young professionals to publish research-based and peer-reviewed articles with policy recommendations on global issues. Balázs is interested in US-China relations, global economic trends and public-private relationships. He speaks English and French fluently, while German, Chinese and Japanese on a basic level.
“As a student of international affairs I am well aware how important public perceptions and understanding a partner country’s culture are. As I plan to settle down in Hungary in the future, I wish to further and promote mutual understanding between these two countries.”
Through assignments to think tanks and non-government organizations, CIP participants learn about the workings of both the U.S. government and the non-profit world. Their experience helps them establish contacts in the U.S. in their chosen field, and motivates them to enter public service in their country of origin.
Balázs Kiss with colleagues at ITIC