interview Dear Mr. Vice Minister, what happens in the Section of the European Union and Foreign Trade? “Originally, they were two separate sections that are now closely related, and if I simplify, there are several areas of agenda: the coordination of our relations with the European Union, which falls within our authority; issues of the domestic market of the European Union; trade policy and membership in international organizations; preparations and realization of the export strategy of the Czech Republic; and generally the area of export promotion. This also includes the creation and realization of foreign economic policy of the Czech Republic, as well as the issues of European and international law, again falling within the authority of the Ministry. As you can see, the matters administrated by us extend beyond and connect to both the Union as well as the foreign trade agenda. That is the core of our section.” What are your main goals for 2015? “It is a combination of two things – the Union, and international organizations connected to foreign trade. If you extrapolate, one priority is the creation of new jobs thanks to the growth of Czech businesses, and the fact that we are successful in mediating opportunities in foreign markets for them. The second priority is the growing reputation of the Czech Republic in the European Union, as well as among international organizations, and creating our international trade policy so that we can help internationalize our businesses.” I would like to discuss the first priority. Are the best opportunities in the Arabian Peninsula and in China right now? “Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we try not to say in advance that a specific region is the priority for all sectors in general. On the contrary. We perceive the access to prospective markets individually. There are sectors for which China really is advantageous, but for others it is the region of Latin America, and yet for others it is sub-Saharan Africa. This is a diversion from the former perception of export orientation. A list was made of regions that were marked as priorities and in our interest. However, this may be confusing. Small and medium-sized enterprises, which would like to follow such advice, may find out that this kind of priority region for the Czech Republic is not necessarily the priority for them. Their goods may not be competitive there, or marketable…” Does it mean that for almost any sector an advantageous region can be found? “I cannot say that for every sector. For the sectors where we are strong, we have a comparative advantage and we see the potential. I would like to mention a tool which our colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were primarily working with. It is called the map of sector opportunities. With this tool we enter data into the common trade policy which we are responsible for. The map will be repeatedly updated. It is using the information verified at our Embassies and in foreign CzechTrade offices to help Czech businesses with better orientation abroad. The idea is to bring them up to a new level of trade. They do not have a list of the priority countries anymore, but they can have a look at where they may be heading with regard to their production or business programs. The result may show them a completely different region which has never been mentioned before. However, each
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region in which we can successfully realize projects in sectors that Czech companies excel at, is a priority region for us.” Have you already received feedback from business circles regarding the new course of trade policy? “We hold intensive dialogue with business representatives, and with the Confederation of Industry of the CR, the Czech Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, trade unions, and others. None of the above mentioned institutions were intent on continuing with a purely regional approach. On the contrary, they support the sector approach. They appreciate and prefer having the resources of the state available to the businesses so that individual sectors can be directed to the regions where there is a chance for being successful. One great example of this is the very important united international network of foreign representative offices and foreign CzechTrade offices.” How limited is the network of representative offices? The Czech Republic does not have its offices everywhere… “That is correct. In the past, and due to the current political and economic situation, our representative offices were in fact being closed. Today, this policy is under re-evaluation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has re-opened many places which were recently closed down. We have also begun fresh communication efforts within the business sphere. This business sphere must be involved in the key and strategic decisions on the optimization of foreign offices. Economic diplomacy, and the promotion of our businesses abroad, is part of the key agenda of our Embassies.” So, medium-sized businesses are welcome at the Ministry as well? “Of course they are. The CzechTrade agency is clearly oriented toward the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses. Since last year, when the Framework Agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade was signed, the approach of our representatives abroad towards businesses has started to unite. The natural relationships that CzechTrade is promoting is business to business (B2B). Here, the requirements of small and medium-sized businesses are heard. When it is necessary to open doors, to cultivate business to government (B2G) relationships, this is a task for our economic diplomats, here at headquarters or at our representative offices. Until very recently, it was confusing that some services provided by the CzechTrade agency were paid for, while similar services could be mediated for free by our economic diplomats at the Embassies. Therefore, we created a single catalogue of services. It includes the services that are free all over the network, whether provided by a diplomat or a CzechTrade employee. Then, there is a superstructure of further services provided by CzechTrade. Another pillar of the agreement between the two resorts was a single input point for the whole system. This so-called Clients´ Center physically resides at the CzechTrade agency in Prague, and on days which are specified in advance, the businesses are assisted by both the representatives of CzechTrade as well as economic diplomats from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. For businesses this makes things more comfortable. They don´t have to think about where to go or if their requirements belong to B2B or B2G. They have one single place where the employees will sort their requirements out.” The second topic that you mentioned was the reputation of the Czech Republic within the European Union. How are we doing at the moment? “We are part of the so-called group of likeminded states. These are Scandinavians, Germans, the Baltics… As far as the approach towards our domestic market is concerned, we are perceived as hardcore, and with regards to free trade we belong among the most liberally minded states. Last year, we successfully formulated the common priorities of 13 member states in the domestic market of the EU, and these priorities could be partly reflected in the working program of the new European Commission. Regarding this, I want to demonstrate that it is not true that we cannot influence anything in the European Union. On the contrary, if we have enough discussions, and enough feedback from businesses, we are able to formulate our requests, negotiate them, and much more effectively promote them among the whole twenty-eight nation bloc. For example, in the committee for trade policy, where I take part, we can influence a row of allied member states and enforce our opinion at the Commission. At the same time, it enables us to observe and evaluate the development in the EU and its impacts on the CR.”
„Chinese Projects for 2015“ I. Official trip of the government delegation led by Jan Hamáček, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the CR to the People´s Republic of China on the occasion of the official participation of the Czech Republic at the 3rd year of the Chinese International Technology Fair (20th-25th April 2015) II. Visit of LIU Yandong, Vice Prime Minister of the People´s Republic of China for Health, Science, and Technologies on the occasion of the meeting of the ministers of health (Health Summit) within 16+1 (cooperation of the People´s Republic of China with 16 countries of the Central and Eastern Europe – SVE countries) in the Czech Republic (15th June -17th June 2015) III. Visit of WANG Zhiqing, Vice Administrator of the Civil Aviation Authority of the People´s Republic of China (CAAC) in the Czech Republic IV. Visit of MIAO Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technologies of the People´s Republic of China in the Czech Republic (unconfirmed) V. Official visit of Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Government of the CR in the People´s Republic of China (unconfirmed) VI. 10th meeting of the economic joint committee in Peking (unconfirmed) VII. China Invest Forum in the Czech Republic VIII. Meeting of the Prime Ministers of the SVE countries with China (unconfirmed)
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