Ambassador of Czech Republic

Little is known about the oldest Sanskrit chair in Charles University existing ever since 1850 in Prague. The Institute of Indian Studies at the Charles University has students learning Indian languages, literature, history and culture. The Oriental Institute set up in 1922 under the Czech Academy of Sciences has a long tradition of research on India. The Ambassador of the Czech Republic, Mr. Miloslav Stasek in an exclusive interview to THE BLUE MOON Editor, Amit Mittal spoke at length on the relations between the two countries. Some Excerpts :

It surprises me to learn that academicians in the Czech Republic have had interest in Indian languages and culture ever since 1850.

Charles University in Prague is the oldest in central Europe ever since 1348. It is in this University that we have the Sanskrit chair. It is there even before Poland had it. The number of students for Indian studies is high. Students are enrolled every second year and each time there are 45 students for these specialized courses. We have regular exchange of students and academicians. At this time we have eight Czech professors teaching in India. Indian students are also coming privately to study at the University. The Czech Auto giant Skoda has made a place for itself in India in the past few years brining Czech technology closer to Indian households. Is the car company planning expansion in spite of the growing competition in India in this field?

Skoda is designed and manufactured in the Czech Republic and we have a production facility in Aurangabad in India where the company is producing 20000 cars annually. The assembly unit produces Skoda Fabia, Yeti, Laura and Superb. All production is under Czech supervision. In the coming five years Skoda in India will be producing 100,000 units of the car.

At the same time Volkswagen of Germany is also entering the Indian market with a bang, will it not affect Skoda?

Volkswagen will not dramatically harm Skoda cars in India.

Will Skoda be investing in other ventures in India?

Skoda Power is setting up hydro power stations in India. Skoda is also in the process of negotiating the supply of brakes and wheels for locomotives (of Indian Railways).

Is Czech Republic providing any assistance to India for nuclear power plants too?

Yes, we are providing assistance to nuclear power plants in terms of technology.

Are there no restrictions from European Union, of which the Czech Republic is a partner since 2004, on transfer of such technology for Nuclear power plants?

There are no restrictions.

In view of the grave threat of high radioactivity affecting human life after the nuclear accident resulting from the tsunami in Japan recently, would you still support nuclear power ? Even the Czech Republic gets 30% of its energy from nuclear power plants.

Power produced from renewable energy sources is much cleaner, but higher generation is not economically viable. In view of growing population, we need energy faster, it is in this context that nuclear power becomes very important. Energy from renewable sources is quite costly compared to nuclear power.

After the collapse of Communism in 1989 and subsequently Czechoslovakia dividing into Czech and Slovak Republics in January 1993, the relations with India dating back to Jawahar Lal Nehru's time must have undergone a sea change.

It has been a milestone in relations with India. We had 60 factories in India before the fall of Communism. After the change we started focussing on our closest neighborhood which is the European Union market in the early 90's.We needed a block like EU and NATO.

With the Czech Republic joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the EU in 2004, it must have blurred its focus on Asia?

We lost Middle East, Asia and Latin American markets, but now we are looking for areas of possible cooperation, not only with India but other countries too. The bilateral trade with India increased to USD 1.4 billion in 2010 from USD 1 billion in 2009. The Czech Republic has the balance of trade in its favour. We are now preparing to invest in auto sector, machine tools, renewable sources of energy among others. Our largest export in Asia is to India.

Trade with China ?

Our trade volume with China is USD 5.5 billion. Of this USD 5 billion is exported by China to Czech Republic.

How big is the Indian investment in Czech Republic ?

Key Indian companies bought strategic companies in Czech Republic. Mittal got into heavy industry with steel, Ashok Leyland took AVIA and Infosys got into IT industry. But there are none in the pharmaceutical sector. We have eight Indian companies in Czech Republic, three Czech companies in India and two more are coming in heavy industry and automotive sector.

After becoming a Schengen Area member on 21 December 2007, getting a visa for Czech Republic must have become difficult for Indian travelers?

We have two types of visas – one Schengen and the other national. For a Schengen visa, the norms are conforming to the Schengen agreement and with the national visa, a visitor can only remain within the territory of the Czech Republic. We are discussing the matter of reducing time of issuance of business visas.

What about tourism in Czech Republic?

We get about 10 million tourists annually. We have also opened Czech Tourism offices, one in India in August 2010 to promote tourism further. We get about 30000 tourists from India and 10000 Czechs travel to India. Czech tourists are attracted by the national parks and Himalayas to India, while Spas and shopping attract the Indian tourists to the Czech Republic. We also send 11- 12 new movies to India to be screened at the Little Europe Film Festival. Czech Republic is a hub for producing movies in Europe We have cooperation with CSIR in the field of textiles manufacturing, water, environmental engineering. We are now seeking a joint fund for new technologies which is expected to materialize by Autumn this year.

When does the Czech Republic plan to switch to Euro currency?

There is no target for switching to Euro, although this may be a disadvantage to us as 80% of our exports are to European countries. We are not in a hurry after the troubles witnessed in Greece.

You have a good number of Vietnamese settled in the Czech Republic, do you face problems with them as they as guest workers long ago?

We do not have problems with them. They control market with cheap products like fruits, vegetables and textiles.

I have always been under the impression that Pilsner and Budweiser brands of beer are German and that the Germans are the biggest consumers of beer. Is that true?

That is not so. Budweiser and Pilsner, both originated from the Czech Republic and as far as beer consumption is concerned, it is high in the Czech Republic, perhaps higher than Germany.

What are the forthcoming high-level visits of Czech dignitaries to further agreements with India?

We have our Minister for Investments coming to India between 12 to 16 April. This will be followed by the visit of the Speaker of the Senate between 8 and 13 May. Then we have the Trade and Industry Minister coming in September later in the year. We also have shows on Czech designs for jewellery, fashion, cars and architecture. Indian companies can use these designs to upgrade their products.
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