Czech Republic signs an agreement to increase economic co-operation with Wales
As the Czech Republic awaits European Union membership in 2004 the country is well on its way to fostering economic links with the western part of the continent. Last week the Czech Republic and Wales announced that the two countries would do more to foster trade links and economic co-operation.
Last week an agreement on expanding trade and economic co-operation between the Czech Republic and Wales was signed by Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jiri Rusnok and Economic Development Minister for Wales Andrew Davies. The joint declaration calls for the strengthening of trade links between Wales and the Czech Republic by fostering close co-operation in a wide range of trade and business initiatives between the two countries.
Mr. Davies stated that the agreement is important to Wales because the Czech Republic is an ideal country for fostering and developing closer business links with. This is largely due to both countries' desire to develop economic co-operation in areas such as technology transfer, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. To find out why the Czech Republic sees Wales and the United Kingdom as a whole as an important business partner I spoke with Martin Tlapa, who is the managing director at Czech Trade:
"Britain is an important partner for us, they are very active in our balance of trade, we have a surplus in trade, they are the third most important business partner. Our idea as Czech Trade is to help the companies to go though England to Welsh companies. We would like to promote Czech businesses and to build the name of the Czech Republic among Welsh enterprises. So there is great change for Czech companies to become suppliers for machinery industry in Wales. So the main idea is to put together the businesses on both side and to profit from the growth of the British economy."
Since the early 1990's the Czech Republic has successfully reoriented its economy towards the European Union and Western markets. As the Czech Republic largely has an export driven economy, the initiation of agreements such as the one between the Czech Republic and Wales is important because it increases business opportunities for Czech companies abroad. This, compounded by the fact that the Czech Republic enjoys a number of advantages over its competitors in the international market place, means that the economy has large potential for growth. Mr. Tlapa explains how this agreement could increase business opportunities for Czech companies far beyond Wales and the United Kingdom:
"I think generally that we have quite a flexible and cheap labour force with a lot of very good suppliers that should be very successful in business Great Britain. So our idea is to manly help SME's to find partners on the British markets and help to promote Czech products. There is also an opportunity for co-operation with third markets, to use British companies for trade to commonwealth parties and on the other side to use Czech companies in the co-operation project in Central-Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia."
