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Szabó receives this honour for his achievements in developing the economic relations between Finland and Hungary, and for increasing the awareness of Finland in Hungary.

György Szabó started his career in publishing in 1992. He occupies the CEO position within his company since 1999. Additionally, in 2005 he was nominated cluster CEO for the activities of Sanoma Magazines International (SMI) in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as board member of SMI. Szabó helped to develop Sanoma Budapest into Hungary's leading media company and the strongest magazine publisher. Under his leadership the company also expanded its operations to include Internet services and cable TV operations.

Between 2000 and 2005, György Szabó served as the President for the Hungarian Publishers' association. He is also active as member of the presidium of the Budapest 2020 Olympic Movement.

'He is one of the leading characters in the publishing industry, who enjoys a great deal of prestige in Hungarian business society. With his own actions and through the products and publications managed by Sanoma Budapest he significantly contributed to the awareness of Finland in Hungarian society. He cooperated with other Finnish executives to enhance their business in Hungary and has successfully widened and deepened a transparent, humane, and efficient business culture and corporate responsibility in Hungary, represented values which are highly appreciated by the State of Finland', stated Jari Vilén, Ambassador of Finland to Budapest. The award was handed over to Szabó by Ambassador Vilén in an award ceremony at the Embassy of Finland on 3 December 2009.

According to the ambassador, György Szabó is the first Hungarian businessman to be awarded with this order in the last two decades. The Order of the Lion of Finland was established on 11 September 1942 and is awarded for civilian and military achievements.