Visit of Minister of Industry and
Trade of the Czech Republic H.E. Mr. Martin Kuba to New Delhi, March 11 – 13,
2013
Minister of Industry and Trade of
the Czech Republic H.E. Mr. Martin Kuba concluded his official visit to New
Delhi on 13th March 2013. Minister Martin Kuba, who arrived to New
Delhi on 11th March 2013 by a special Czech Government aircraft from Dhaka,
brought historically largest business
delegation to India, consisting of more than 100 business representatives.
In
Delhi, H.E.
Mr. Martin Kuba was received by several Honorable Ministers of the
Government of India on March 12, 2013. H.E. Mr. Martin Kuba conducted a
very fruitful meeting followed by official lunch with Hon´ble Minister of
Commerce & Industry and Textiles Mr. Anand Sharma and held extensive talks
also with Hon´ble Minister of Heavy Industry Mr. Praful Patel, Hon´ble Minister
of Science, Technology and Earth Sciences Mr. Jaipal Reddy and Hon´ble State
Minister of Railways Mr. K. J. Surya Prakash Reddy.
During the meetings, both sides pursued
the enhancement of bilateral trade and tried to indentify new concrete projects
to be implemented on business, governmental or PPP level. The official meetings
with Indian counterparts thus contributed immensely to identifying further
scopes for deepening the bilateral economic cooperation and provided a most
effective ground for detailed discussion on broad topics of mutual interest.
On March 12, 2013, H.E. Mr.
Martin Kuba also inaugurated “India –
the Czech Republic Business Forum” organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI), represented at the Czech side by numerous Czech business
delegation, comprising of companies active in the fields of energy and
renewable energy, transportation, automotive industry, infrastructure,
engineering and heavy engineering, banking and financial services, metallurgy,
pharmaceuticals, IT, film industry, law attorneys etc. The interactive business
meeting followed by lunch was attended by more than 150 companies.
The Minister concluded his visit
to Delhi on 13th March 2013 when he left for Aurangabad where he is visiting the largest Czech investment
in India, assembling plant of Skoda Auto cars. Consequently, Minister of
Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Mr. Martin Kuba will proceed to Mumbai where H.E. Mr. Martin
Kuba together with H.E. Mr. Anand Sharma, will jointly inaugurate the “India
Engineering Sourcing Show” (IESS) 2013, to which the Czech Republic is the
partner country this year. H.E. Mr. Martin Kuba will also inaugurate the
economic forum “Doing Business with Czech Republic” in Mumbai on March
14, 2013, organized by Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), which will
be concluded by ceremonial signing of several business agreements. Furthermore,
Investment Forum will take place at the same day on March 14, 2013. H.E.
Mr. Martin Kuba will also launch the India-Czech cultural program in Leela
Mumbai Hotel on March 14, 2013. On March 15, 2013, H.E. Mr. Martin Kuba will be
received by Honorable Governor of Maharashtra and other senior officials and
chair the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the Chamber of
Commerce of the Czech Republic and Indian Merchants Chamber.
The visiting delegation from the
Czech Republic presented tremendous business opportunities for their Indian
counterparts in many areas, such as supply of machinery and equipment for
transport infrastructure, chemical and rubber industry, medical equipment,
machinery and equipment associated with environmental protection as well as for
machinery and equipment for the mining of raw materials.
Economic ties between the Czech
Republic and India have been historically very active, nevertheless, the trade
cooperation started to experience a new dynamic growth from the mid 1990’s,
when from nearly USD 100 million of mutual turnover in 1993 the bilateral trade
exchange reached 1.6 billion USD of turnover in 2011. The current mutual goal
of both countries is to reach USD 2 billion of turnover by 2015.
The Czech Republic is highly keen
on investing in India. The largest and most well-known is the SKODA AUTO INDIA
Pvt. Ltd. passenger car assembly plant. The Czech investment flows to India in
rising figures, among others to be mentioned Vítkovice Machinery
Group, FANS or Škoda Power which have already invested considerably in India. On the other hand, the Czech
Republic is also proud to welcome Indian investment, whether it’s Infosys or
Ashok Leyland, which produces small trucks in the Czech Republic.
Both countries try hard to create
a safe and transparent environment for the companies through agreements,
therefore they have concluded an investment agreement, tax agreement as well as
an Agreement on Economic Cooperation with India, with the latter also being the
basis for the Czech-Indian Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation which
meets every year on the ministerial level. The Czech Republic, as the EU member
country, also supports the rapid conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement (FDI),
which is currently under discussion.
Czech-India bilateral relations
are also reflected in the high frequency of high-level visit. In September 2012
the Czech Republic was visited by Honorable Minister of Commerce and Industry
Anand Sharma. Both sides work hard on deepening political and economical
cooperation and support a further intensifying of exchange of bilateral visits.
Miloslav Stasek
Ambassador
of the Czech Republic
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