Sanctions on Russia endanger engineering industry

The Czech engineering industry is experiencing a period of expansion, and the last year’s results have confirmed that the export of its products had returned to the 2008 level. The situation could be, nevertheless, reversed by the sanctions against Russia, competition from the East and the crisis of the technical education.

This is the message sent to the government of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka by the representatives of two hundred Czech engineering companies that took part in the Engineering forum, held in Prague on 10-11 June 2014.

“Export to Russia represents twenty percent of total Czech engineering exports,” said the president of the Association of Engineering Technology Miroslav Šabart. If new sanctions against Moscow will be declared, it could endanger the investment in Russia, he added.

„We would like to make an appeal to the Czech government to adopt a more cautious attitude to this situation,” Šabart stressed. “We would welcome broader options by the Czech export bank and EGAP (Export Guarantee and Insurance Corporation) in financing and ensuring our exports to the Eastern markets, especially to Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union.”