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Bilateral ties between the Czech Republic and India recently received a new impetus with the weeklong state visit of Czech President Vaclav Klaus to India in November 2005. The official visit to India reaffirmed the excellent relations between Indian and the Czech Republic, and further strengthened trade cooperation. It was a presidential visit after 11 years (Vaclav Havel, 1994), but President Klaus has visited India as Chief of Parliament five years ago.
President Klaus was accompanied by a high-level business delegation, with economic relations being high on the agenda. Though India and the Czech Republic have traditionally had friendly ties—including visits of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to then Czechoslovakia—this visit was a landmark in current relationships, as it was the first since the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union (EU) in 2004.
During his Indian visit, President Klaus interacted with many senior government officials including Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Meetings with President Kalam and then Indian Minister of External Affairs Natwar Singh focussed on the eminent interest to further develop and strengthen the existing political, economical and cultural ties, and to set up new ones. President Klaus assured his country’s support to India’s claim for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. The Czech Republic is, indeed, one of the strongest supporters of India’s aspiration for a UN Security Council permanent seat; in fact, it is one of the co-sponsors of the resolution draft. With Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, President Klaus agreed upon guidelines in the bilateral ties—to fill in the “gaps in awareness” of both countries, which are the limiting aspect for broader cooperation. On trade discussions, President Klaus said, “We discussed economic issues, traditional relations, trade relations and investment possibilities. We think we have something to offer to the Indian economy. We discussed the energy sector, the infrastructure investments, especially the railway system, and so on.” In India, there have already been Czech investments in the automotive and hydroenergy sectors, and Indians have recently invested in the IT sector in the Czech Republic. Representatives from engineering, transport, and finance sectors accompanied president Klaus on his visit.
The benefits of a regular dialogue on political and economic issues, and of reaching common positions on international forums were discussed. It was agreed that there still existed a vast potential in the fields of culture, science and education, as well as that of the tourist industry. President Klaus also spoke in favour of simplification of the visa regime with India. He said, “We certainly do not wish our European future to develop to the detriment of the relations with our traditional partners. We don’t want to be locked in Europe. On the contrary, we want to be opened to the rest of the world, and I would like to stress that especially India is one of our great partners.”
India is an important destination for Czech representatives and Czech ministers have visited the country regularly during the last five years: Minister of Defence, Transport, Finance, Trade and Industry, and Agriculture. In 2001, Czech Prime Minister M. Zeman visited India. Undergoing, are preparations for the working visit of Czech Prime Minister J. Paroubek in early 2006.
The two countries do not have any contentious political issues. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Czech Republic has restored its political ties with the democratic world. Nowadays, both countries share similar views on the importance of the preservation and strengthening of democratic values. As a liberal economic state, the Czech Republic supports the liberalization of the global market and the possibility of access for developing countries to the markets of developed economics. Together with India, the Czech Republic is a member of the Convening Group of the Community of Democracies (a global gathering of 106 governments committed to democracy), a movement that was launched in Warsaw, Poland, in 2000. The Czech Republic is participating on the civil and cultural restoration of Iraq through training of military police and judicial staff. It is also a part of the NATO security contingent in the Provincial Restoration Teams in Afghanistan, and contributes to the renewal of the region’s stability.
The Czech Republic and India have strong cultural ties as well: Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore visited Czechoslovakia on several occasions in the 20s and 30s, and his literary works have strongly influenced Czech culture of that period. In 2004, former Czech President and distinguished writer Vaclav Havel was awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize, where he delivered a speech exalting Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence and stressed its significance in today’s world. The Visva-Bharati University, founded by Tagore, honoured President Klaus with an award for his activities in international politics and economics. Indian Minister of State for Personnel Suresh Pachouri emphasised the current and past academic relations between the two countries. He said, “We also know that Charles University in Prague was one of the earliest to establish a chair in Sanskrit and that Indian languages, including Bengali, are being studied by students, scholars and academics in the Czech Republic.”
President Klaus also delivered a speech at the Liberty Institute in New Delhi entitled
Dubious Attitudes of Western (Northern) Countries Vis-à-Vis Eastern (Southern)
Countries.
Business Cooperation
The two countries are experiencing a boom in trade for the last three years: bilateral turnover has tripled. In 2004, Czech exports to India increased by 64%, and the Indian exports to the Czech Republic by 47%; general volume increased by 56%. Main Czech export commodities include engineering products, such as parts for Skoda and Tatra car production, textile machines, parts for energy industry, bearings, injection pumps and control units. From the non-engineering sector: ultra-light planes, plastics, optic fibres, and glass and paper products. India exports cotton, recordable media, chemicals, textile and leather products, and agriculture products.
Some of the success stories of Czech investments in India include Skoda, Tatra, and Czech companies supplying Indian power plants. During his visit, President Klaus opened a new assembly line for the Skoda Auto factory, which plans to increase the sales in India up to 10,000 cars shortly. The Tatra company, based in Hosur, has been a traditional supplier of transport vehicles for the Indian military. Czech turbo generator sets are nowadays producing energy in more than a 100 Indian power plants.
The Czech Republic, like India, is a top recipient of FDI per capita in the IT sector in the world. India’s Infosys recently established its Progeon branch in Brno. There is much cooperation to look forward in the IT sector.
Education, Science and Culture
The Czech government grants several scholarships to Indian students, especially in economics and science. A lecturer of the Czech language at Delhi University is giving introductory courses for those interested in studying in the Czech Republic or building up ties between both countries. The Czech Embassy is organizing an annual film festival of Central and Eastern European countries, which will take place in February 2006. The relatively strong and successful Czech film industry produces films that are regularly shown in international film festivals all over India. Both countries are interested in boosting tourism. There is notable progress, though India is still lagging behind other South Asian countries as a holiday destination for Czech tourists. There are some obstacles, however, that need to be overcome in seeing more Indian tourists in Prague and other Czech places of interest such as the existent visa regime or the non-existence of a direct flight connection between the two countries. However, Czech places are known to be popular for their scenery with Bollywood film makers: perhaps, tourism in its broadest form might be one of the means to fill in “the gaps in awareness”.
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