Conference "The beginning of a new era: Visegrad 4+ and U.S. Economic Relations" in Washington
Source: Patrimonium Sancti Adalberti (CZ) – Our partner organization Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation from Hungary, in cooperation with the American think tank Americans For Tax Reform (ATR) and the Tholos Foundation from the USA, organized the international conference "The beginning of a new era: Visegrad 4+ and U.S. Economic Relations" on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 in the legendary Capitol Hill Club (adjacent to the Capitol, seat of the US Congress), which was attended by organizations not only from the V4 countries, but also from Austria, Slovenia and Italy.
Opening remarks were given by Christopher Butler, Executive Director of the host organization ATR/Tholos. He emphasized the future importance of this cooperation, also considering the fact that the new American administration considers the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe to be "Europe of common sense", for countries which have not lost their desire to maintain traditional values and prosper.
This was followed by speeches by the President of Oeconomus, Péter Törcsi, and the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Szabolcs Takács. The Hungarian side emphasized the necessity of Europe's cooperation with the US, as well as the need to naturally expand Central European cooperation beyond the V4 format.
Then there were three discussion panels, in which Barbara Kolm, director of the Friedrich Hayek Institute and member of the Austrian Parliament, Andrej Lokar, political philosopher from Slovenia, Zbigniew Przybyłowski, director of international relations of the Polish Institute for Legal Culture Ordo Iuris, or Lukáš Parízek, former state secretary of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs and founder of the "Visegrád 4 Business Conference", spoke. Czech Patrimonium Sancti Adalberti was represented by its chairman Tomáš Kulman.
The conference was also attended by representatives of important American think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation, Hudson Institute or Claremont Institute.
The whole event culminated in an evening reception at the Hungarian Embassy in Rhode Island, hosted by H.E. Szabolcs Takács.