Czech-French business forum in Prague

Confederation of Industry has been the co-organizer of the meeting of Czech and French businessmen, held in the Czech capital.

More than two hundred representatives of the Czech companies have taken part in the Czech-French economic forum that has been held in the Prague Czernin Palace on the occasion of the French prime minister Manuel Valls’s visit to Prague on 9^th December.

The Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the minister of foreign affaires Lubomír Zaorálek and the minister of trade and industry Jan Mládek have taken part in the forum as well. The forum has been organized by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic as well as by the French employers’s association MEDEF (Mouvement des entreprises de France).

„Among the European countries, France is at the forefront of the Czech companies‘ interest,“ the Confederation of Industry’s president Jaroslav Hanák said. In accordance with a survey organized by the Confederation of Industry, 14 percent of the Czech companies are interested in exporting to France as well as in investing in the French market.

The Czech-French trading has yet surpassed the volumes from the pre-crisis period. The mutual relations have intensified this year as the Confederation’s business mission has accompanied Czech president Miloš Zeman on his visit to France in September.

During the Prague business forum, the French prime minister said that the French companies are ready to invest more in the Czech Republic. In his opinion, the economic cooperation between the Czech Republic and France should be intensified especially in the energy sector.

Valls stressed that the state-controlled companies such as utility Electricite de France and nuclear engineering giant Areva and others are „ready to react to the (Czech) decision“ on expanding the nuclear output.

France is the fifth most important trade partner of the Czech Republic and the fourth largest foreign investor in the country. Since 1993, France has invested about five billion euros in the Czech Republic which represents five percent of the direct foreign investments in the country.