Talks with Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Necas
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Russian-Czech inter-government talks
Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Prime Minister, welcome to Moscow! We had an opportunity to meet in December 2011 when I visited you in Prague. Now we are counterparts. We have a large agenda. I hope today we’ll discuss our trade and economic cooperation, investment projects and cultural issues – everything that forms the fabric of Russian-Czech relations…
Our trade is developing well – it has reached about $10 billion and is growing with every year. This is important, especially during this lull on the international markets and the relative instability in Europe. I think it is very important for us to see where our gross investments stand. There is a certain discrepancy in this respect – Czech investment in Russia far exceeds Russian investment in the Czech Republic. I think this is an opportunity to discuss what we could do to consolidate cooperation in this respect.
Petr Necas (via interpreter): Mr Prime Minister, I’m happy to follow up on our meeting in Prague when you visited it as the President. I’m pleased to say that our bilateral relations are developing rapidly. As you have emphasised, our economic ties are very good. The 6% increase in trade last year is a good result. That said we believe that our economic relations have much greater potential and we are simply obliged to use it. I’m pleased to say that I’m accompanied by a large delegation of Czech entrepreneurs who want to sign contracts on specific projects in Russia – from the power industry to machine building. I’m also happy that we’ll visit some regions in addition to Moscow.
Dmitry Medvedev: You will visit four regions, right?
Petr Necas: Yes, four regions.
Dmitry Medvedev: This will give you a full impression of how we live and how the country is developing. Most important, it’s an opportunity to promote our cooperation.
<…>
* * *
Following Russian-Czech intergovernmental talks, Dmitry Medvedev and Petr Necas gave statements to the press
Transcript:
Dmitry Medvedev: Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues! I and Czech Prime Minister, Mr Petr Necas, held brief but productive talks. We focused on bilateral trade, investment, the implementation of major joint projects in energy, mechanical engineering and other industries, and, of course, cultural cooperation.
Our common goal is to maintain the positive momentum in our bilateral relations. The relations between Russia and the Czech Republic have seen stable positive dynamics. Bilateral trade is growing despite the problems in the eurozone. We need to give a boost to investment projects as well. To that end, the main item on the agenda was maintaining this positive trend.
We agreed that we are both interested in increasing the presence of Czech investors in the Russian market (especially since a large group of Czech businesspeople have come to Russia together with my colleague, Mr Prime Minister) and enhancing the presence of Russian business in the Czech Republic. I mean not only large projects, which are, of course, our flagship projects, like the Gazela pipeline and other large energy facilities in the Czech Republic. To my view, it is equally important to develop cooperation between small and medium-sized businesses.
Dmitry Medvedev: Our common goal is to maintain the positive momentum in our bilateral relations. The relations between Russia and the Czech Republic have seen stable positive dynamics. Bilateral trade is growing despite the problems in the eurozone.
We are interested in introducing Russian high tech in the Czech Republic, I mean projects like GLONASS and nuclear energy projects. We discussed these issues today. The Russian-Czech consortium will gladly take part in an international tender for the construction of new power units at the Temelin nuclear power station. If we are able to prove our reliability, the Czech companies will receive contracts worth up to 6 billion euros. For our part, we are counting on what has been said by my Czech colleague: decisions will be made without bias and on the basis of objective considerations.
I’d like to note actually, that the current visit of Mr Prime Minister is unprecedented both in its character and intensity, because a large delegation of businesspeople has arrived and will be visiting four cities in Russia: Moscow, Sochi, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. All this proves that our relationship has a solid foundation and is contributing to our strategic partnership with the European Union.
Allow me to wish the Czech delegation a productive time in Russia. Please, Mr Prime Minister.
Petr Necas: Thank you (Speaks Russian).
(Hereinafter via interpreter): I am very glad to have this opportunity to meet with Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, with whom I had the honour to hold talks in December 2011 during his visit to Prague as President. That visit placed our political relationship on a new level, and I hope that my current visit is the continuation of that one and that the results of the current visit will help to improve our relations as well. The Russian Federation is a major and key strategic partner for the Czech Republic, not only in politics and economics, but also in investment, trade and security policy. The development of cooperation in all these areas contributes to improving the prosperity of the people in the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation, and therefore benefits both counties. With the Russian Prime Minister we mostly talked about economic issues, notably we were pleased to note that just last year, bilateral trade between the two countries increased by 6%.
Dmitry Medvedev: We agreed that we are both interested in increasing the presence of Czech investors in the Russian market and enhancing the presence of Russian business in the Czech Republic. I mean not only large projects, which are, of course, our flagship projects, like the Gazela pipeline and other large energy facilities in the Czech Republic. To my view, it is equally important to develop cooperation between small and medium-sized businesses.
Contacts with Russian regions are extremely important for the Czech Republic. That’s why I will visit Yekaterinburg and St Petersburg together with a large delegation of Czech businesspeople, which includes over 80 members. We intend to do everything we can to successfully develop contacts between Czech businesspeople and local businesses in the regions we are going to visit. We are planning to sign contracts on certain projects in energy, transport engineering, heavy engineering and others.
The key area of cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation is energy. In January 2013, the Czech Republic was connected to the Nord Stream pipeline thanks to the completion of the Gazela pipeline.
The next area of cooperation between our countries in the gas industry is the construction of underground gas reservoirs. We also discussed oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline. I emphasised that the Czech Republic is interested in using the full capacity of the pipeline.
We also spoke about nuclear power stations. The Czech party welcomes the participation of the Mir Russian-Czech consortium in tenders for the completion of two power units at the Temelin nuclear power station. I assured Mr Prime Minister that the tender will be held in an unprejudiced manner and will be transparent, allowing the best candidate to win.
I’d like to thank Mr Prime Minister for the open and very productive dialogue and I’m sure that it will be continued.
(Speaks Russian) Thank you, Mr Prime Minister.
Dmitry Medvedev: (Speaks Czech) Děkuji. Thank you.