We support the activities of Czech companies in China

The Industry and Trade Ministry wants to provide financial aid to boost the Czech firms' participation in a trade fair that will take place in China in November, planning to submit the relevant proposal to the cabinet in June, ministry spokeswoman Stepanka Filipova said today.

The first China International Import Expo will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to November 10, 2018. Firms will pay Kc49,000 for their participation in the event. Filipova did not specify the portion of the sum that might be covered by the ministry.

President Milos Zeman will attend the trade fair along with a business delegation that will comprise representatives of several tens of Czech companies.

Milan Raz, head od the CzechTrade agency's section of exporters services, said every company will be assigned an area of nine square metres to present itself. Foodstuffs and agricultural products, high technologies and advanced techniques, and designer products and clothes are in high demand, said Raz.

Wang Jinsong, the Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic, said 500 square metres had been preliminarily reserved for Czech businesses. However, they must be quick to register for the fair as there is a big interest in the event, he said.

New opportunities open up for Czech companies operating in construction and transport, forwarding companies, companies in banking and insurance and those providing advisory, legal and digital services or operating in car and chemical industries, for example, said Jaroslav Hanak, president of the Confederation of Industry.

Czech exports to China posted an annual drop of 5 percent to nearly Kc14bn in Q1, imports growing by 3.2 percent to Kc119bn, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office.

The Czech Republic has a big deficit in foreign trade with China in the long run. Last year, Czech exports amounted to Kc56bn, while imports from China totalled Kc475bn.

Ma Keqing, the Chinese ambassador to the Czech Republic, said that China's investments have reached USD2.7bn (Kc58bn) in the Czech Republic, with more than 40 Chinese companies and representative offices being active on the market.

China's CEFC, the largest Chinese investor in the country, had an argument with investment group J&T last week. J&T removed CEFC Europe's management because of the failure to repay a Kc11.5bn debt, taking over control of some CEFC units. On Friday, J&T and China's CITIC Group agreed on a sale of the former's claims against CEFC, and J&T confirmed the debt had been paid off. Media started reporting on CEFC's problems after the news surfaced that CEFC head Ye Jianming, an adviser to president Zeman, has been investigated by Chinese authorities for suspected economic crimes.