As Minister-Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy, Seoul, Korea, John Fogarasi is responsible for the promotion of U.S. trade and trade related interests with the United States’ seventh largest trading partner. Prior to his assignment in Korea, Mr. Fogarasi served as Senior Commercial Officer to Germany (2002 – 2006). Mr. Fogarasi has also served in two Central European posts: Hungary (1995 – 2000) and Bulgaria (1993 – 1995). During his tenure in Bulgaria, he helped establish the first commercial office for the U.S. Embassy and initiated the founding of the Bulgarian-American Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Fogarasi has also served as Trade Consul in Toronto; Assistant Commercial Attaché in Bonn, Germany and as Hungarian Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the early eighties.
In addition to holding country responsibilities, Mr. Fogarasi was Regional Coordinator for the promotion of U.S. energy technology and services, as well as expanding the public-private sector dialogue on energy issues in Europe and the NIS. Mr. Fogarasi is the author of market publications such as “Guide for American Business: Energy Markets of Europe, Russia, & the NIS”, and “Demand for Environmental Technologies in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia”.
Mr. Fogarasi was honored in 1994 by the Bulgarian Government as the Commercial Representative of the Year for his efforts in expanding U.S.-Bulgarian commercial relations. The Department of Commerce recognized Mr. Fogarasi with the Bronze Medal as Outstanding ITA Manager in 1995. In 1997, Mr. Fogarasi received the Department’s highest award, The Gold Medal, for his contributions to the development of a regional commercial strategy in Europe. Most recently, Mr. Fogarasi received the Lawrence Payne Memorial Award for his private-public sector initiatives.
Mr. Fogarasi is fluent in Hungarian and speaks German and Bulgarian. He has an M.A. in International Affairs from the Catholic University of America and has worked on advance degrees at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). He is married and has three children: Christina 15, Michael 13, and Caroline 7.
