In 2000 the Association of Futures Markets held its General Assembly and Annual Conference in Budapest on September 28-29. Due to the growing reputation of our Association and the central location of the event, we were able to attract more participants than ever.

Beyond the AFM members, among the delegates we could welcome representatives of the Budapest Stock Exchange, the Budapest University of Economics, FORNAX Co., Futures and OTC World Magazine, Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, the Poznan Commodity Exchange, the International Finance Corporation, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Bank (International Task Force on Commodity Risk Management). The participation of these three latter organizations was crucial in our life. What it means for us is that our initiative has been noticed and recognized by key international bodies.

The General Assembly elected Mr. Gergely Horváth, President and CEO of KELER Ltd. to act as the AFM Chairman for the year 2001. Mr. Horváth replaced the previous Chairman Mr. Mircea Filipoiu who is President of the Romanian Commodities Exchange.

According to the traditional program of the AFM conferences, the first day was dedicated to exchange presentations where the opportunity was given to both AFM members and guests to introduce their organization, activities and future projects to the delegates. In the case of members we just requested an update on their recent developments. (Please note that these individual presentations are available on the main AFM web page under the title Conference Materials.)

As usual, heated debates and dialogues emerged during the roundtable discussions. This year these discussions focused on the following issues:

• Electronic trading: experience, modifications, global distribution of products, future moderated by Peter Blogg (LIFFE), Roderick Gravelet-Blondin (SAFEX) and Julian Roche (Mobile Futures)
• Mobile Internet on derivatives trading in developing countries and on future markets moderated by Julian Roche (Mobile Futures)
• Demutualisation process of exchanges moderated by Liliana Paraipan (BRM) (Please note that a short introduction of this issue is available available on the main AFM web page under the title Conference Materials.)
• A proposed market-based approach to commodity risk management in developing countries moderated by Nawal Kamel (International Task Force - the World Bank.

On Saturday members and guests were invited for a sightseeing tour to the Eastern part of Hungary. Here, after visiting a lovely historic town of Hungary, participants had the opportunity to taste characteristic Hungarian wines in authentic wine cellars.