New horizons in economic pragmatism: The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic highly appreciates the potential for cooperation with Uzbekistan
As part of its new course to intensify economic diplomacy, the Czech Republic views Uzbekistan as one of its key strategic partners in Central Asia. The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babiš made this statement during an extensive interview on national television, summarizing his recent visit to the region.
The head of the Czech government described the current dynamics of cooperation with Central Asian countries as “fantastic”, emphasizing that Prague intends to base its foreign policy exclusively on economic pragmatism and mutually beneficial partnerships.
In his remarks, Andrej Babiš paid particular attention to the breakthrough in transport and logistics cooperation with Uzbekistan. He noted the successful completion of negotiations for a large-scale project to modernize the country’s railway fleet.
As the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic emphasized, thanks to Uzbekistan’s open and competitive investment climate, the major European engineering company Škoda Transportation won the international tender. In accordance with the decision of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to introduce advanced technologies into the transport sector, an agreement was reached to supply 10 modern, high-tech trainsets. According to Andrej Babiš, this is a major success for the Czech industry and opens new prospects for long-term technological exchange.
In addition, the interview touched on the expansion of humanitarian and tourism exchanges. Given the traditionally high interest among citizens of Uzbekistan in health tourism in the Czech Republic, the country’s government plans a large-scale modernization of the infrastructure of the world-famous resort city of Karlovy Vary.
According to the head of government, the state is taking control of the local airport’s development to implement a major investment project to extend and expand the runway. This measure is intended to create the conditions to accommodate large passenger airliners and launch direct flights, which will significantly facilitate logistics for tourists from Uzbekistan and other countries in the region.
In conclusion, it was emphasized that the Czech Republic will continue its policy of comprehensive support for its businesses abroad and of strengthening ties with the rapidly developing economies of Central Asia, where Uzbekistan is steadily reinforcing its status as a reliable and attractive economic partner.
Abduaziz Khidirov, UzA
