Working towards doing things together: New Czech ambassador to Canada outlines his goals
Martin Tlapa will begin his new posting as Czech ambassador to Canada in Ottawa on September 25th. The agenda items he wishes to tackle during his posting range from boosting tourism and student movement between the two nations, driving further business development amongst Czech and Canadian firms, and working closely to build strong connections with the Czech community across Canada. We caught up with him about these agenda items when he was back in Prague this past August.
“I am very happy to be posted to Canada, I love the country and my task will be to bring more attention to the relations between Czechs and Canadians. We have lots of things in common, and we share similar values regarding the future of the world and happiness of the people. So my task will be to build strong and bold messages with action to our relations.”
How do Canadian-Czech relations stand right now?
“Canada is very important for the whole world economy and the Czech economy as well, the Canadian economy is the 10th largest in the world, it’s highly integrated into value chains. We would like to support the business relations between the Czech Republic and Canada. I think there are a lot of things that can be done. In 2009, Czechs were very supportive of the Free Trade Agreement, and we have to materialize the opportunities that are behind this. Now we have some new things which are very important for both countries, the changes in value chains in the world economy and in the strategic sectors. For example, energy and raw materials - we all know how difficult it is to be dependent on Russia and China. I think there are many things we can do together in these strategic areas of the economy.”
How would having strong relations in these strategic sectors impact Canadians and Czechs?
"There is great potential for Czechs to learn from Canadians and for Canadians to learn from Czechs.”
“I think the Czech Republic is trying to diversify its economic sources, for example we will be building a new nuclear powered energy plant and there are some Canadian investors behind this. Also key raw materials are being imported from Canada to the Czech Republic, and there is lots more exploring to do in the area of raw materials because I know the Canadian government wants to expand this, so we can match this with the Czech mining sectors and the huge knowledge of geology that Czechia has.”
Over 80% of Czech exports are going within the EU. Is Canada an untapped market?
"My task will be to try and bring new businesses and investment to both sectors. I think in some sectors there should be strong interest for Czech companies to invest in the Canadian economy."
“I was looking at the figures, and my dream is to have higher exports on both sides. My task will be to try and bring new businesses and investment to both sectors. I think in some sectors there should be strong interest for Czech companies to invest in the Canadian economy. It should be in the energy and health sectors, and even in the production of beer in Canada, these are areas where both countries will have their interests met. There are lots of common things we can do, and these relations are quite important.”
Are you planning on working to increase tourism between the countries and flight services between Canada and Czechia?
“I remember the time when we had a direct connection between the Czech Republic and Toronto and Montreal, it was many years ago. Covid stopped many direct flights, so we need to invest in the infrastructure so we have the procedures in order for direct connecting flights. It will be up to the promotion agencies and tourism to bring enough capacity to airports. One thing we have discussed with the Czech authorities is the importance of direct flights, but there are many things that need to be done to make this happen. We need to promote the Czech Republic to Canadians so they see Prague, but also other places. So we are in touch with CzechTourism, and they are promoting the country to Canadians.”
How about things like education and promoting the movement of Canadians studying in Czechia and Czechs in Canada?
“We are preparing an action plan between the Czech and Canadian side, and one of the priorities is to increase the exchange of students between the countries. We need to simplify paperwork and red tape on both sides to expedite the process in order to be sure that students are not stressed thinking about how many days they have left in the country. The result of this has to be more students on both sides. There is great potential for Czechs to learn from Canadians and for Canadians to learn from Czechs.”
There are quite a few Canadians who have Czech heritage, how do you plan on working with them and developing a relationship?
"Everytime I meet with my Canadian partners, I always thank them on behalf of the Czech people for how Canada helped those fleeing the communist regime. They found a second home in Canada and most of them were very successful."
“Everytime I meet with my Canadian partners, I always thank them on behalf of the Czech people for how Canada helped those fleeing the communist regime. They found a second home in Canada and most of them were very successful. Bata is an example of such a success story, and everyone is always very thankful to Canada for being there during these hard times. But we need to work with those who have parents coming from Czechoslovakia, who are now citizens of Canada - since we are a middle-sized country, so all people with Czech origin are “ambassadors” to the country. We want to bring them closer to the embassy and help them to have strong ties with the Czech Republic, share values, and work on the Czech-Canadian relations. We want to help with the Czech language - Czech schools are very active, and we want to promote Czech culture amongst Canadians with films and music. This will be very important for all Czechs living across the country, so this will be a very important part of our mission.”
Do you think Czechia is emerging as an important country to have strong ties with for countries like Canada?
“I think it is always important that Canada is visible in Europe, especially when we are discussing multilateral issues, and bringing together values. Like-minded countries should be working closely together. Secondly, I think it is important to promote values like business and free trade, these are important to keep globalization and the global rules for the whole world strong. In the global world, we need rules and guidelines to manage the challenges we are facing. Canadians are very close to the Czech Republic in how they look in the current global architecture.”
If you were to name two goals that you want to really focus on during your time in Canada, what would they be?
“I would like to bring more people to visit each country, so really to promote tourism. I would like to bring more business and investment from the Czech Republic to Canada, and help to simplify in the future the relations between the Czechs and Canadians, and if possible, cut a little bit of red tape that is faced in the procedures for traveling and businesses. So taking down barriers and working towards doing things together more directly.”
