The Confederation defined six tasks for the Goverment

At this year's Congress of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, representatives of the companies called on the government to reduce bureaucracy, speed up the development of digital and physical infrastructure, support science and research and education and help companies export. Only then will the Czech Republic be able to approach the group of the twenty most developed countries.

The Czech Republic remains at the 31st place in the global ranking of competitiveness. In the last year, it has not moved up the ladder despite the growth of industry and economy. The government must therefore take steps over the next three years to bring the country closer to the world's top twenty. The Confederation of Industry presented the list of tasks for the Government at its traditional Congress at the International Engineering Fair in Brno.

"There are several ways to get to the top twenty of the world's most advanced countries. First of all, it is the reduction of bureaucracy. The Government Office must be able to co-ordinate in order to reduce the administrative burden of entrepreneurs. The second area is digitization. When we add education, better infrastructure, science, research and innovations, and the government will support us to export, we have six main areas that will decide whether we get to the TOP 20," says Jaroslav Hanák , President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic still lags behind in the quality of institutions, infrastructure or education system, especially technical education. There are also things to improve in the availability of scientists and technicians, or in cooperation between companies and universities. The government must also speed up the implementation of e-government. "It's really high time. Without the digitization of state administration, the country will miss the fast-track of competitiveness. We are seriously behind European countries," adds Hanák.

This year's Congress was exceptional, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Confederation and of the founding of Czechoslovakia. It was also attended by representatives of the Slovak government and Slovak industrial associations. Slovak companies are struggling with similar problems as the Czech industry. Lack of qualified workforce is linked not only to the current economic growth but also to the low quality of the education system. Wages in Slovakia are growing faster than labor productivity. Companies are thus increasingly motivated to invest in digitization and automation of production.