Fiala: Czech companies can offer innovative solutions to the Philippines

Prime Minister Petr Fiala said at the opening of a business forum between Czech and Filipino entrepreneurs in Manila on Monday morning that Czech companies can offer innovative solutions to the Philippines in the fields of aviation, defence, logistics and transport. He also reminded the local businessmen that Czech companies have a long history in their country, with, for example, the shoe company Baťa opening a factory in the Philippines 90 years ago.

Mr Fiala arrived in the Philippines on Sunday for the start of a 10-day tour of Asia, which will also include visits to Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The prime minister is accompanied by a business delegation that includes the aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody, the Omnipol group, and the Excalibur Army arms company, among others. He stated before setting off on the trip that its purpose is to visit countries that are interested in cooperation with the Czech Republic, to create alternative markets as a counterbalance to Chinese dominance. Monday morning's Manila business forum will be followed by a meeting with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Prime Minister and the President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce, Vladimír Dlouhý, see the Philippines as a promising country for business cooperation and stated their intention to increase the number of Filipino workers in the Czech Republic. According to Mr Dlouhý, Czechia lacks qualified craftsmen, truck and bus drivers, construction workers, and people in the service sector. He said Filipino workers have a good reputation in construction and services, but at the moment a greater influx of workers from the Philippines is hindered by immigration caps set by the interior and foreign ministries.