Ambassador Stasek in conversation with Misha Singh

What is your personal vision for India-Czech bilateral trade relations?

We would, of course, want to see the volume getting much bigger than it is right now. We were very ambitious 5 years ago when I arrived, we saw several prospects from the opportunities that were lying here. But in the meantime there was an economic and financial crisis in Europe. The crisis was further followed by a slowdown of economic growth in India. During this period there have been problems on both the sides due to which there was certain stagnation in growth mainly in 2012 and 2013. Over the last 2 years, the trade volume has grown and I hope it will be much better. Also, many Czech companies are in the final stages of closing tenders with big companies and we hope that this will also add up in figures.

Is the Czech Republic likely to play a significant role in India Defence Industry in ‘Make in India’ program?

Yes, as a mission this is one the most important sectors that we are focusing on. There are mainly 3-4 areas that we look forward to in defence. One, the modernization of the current equipments coming mainly from Russia, like Tank T - 72. The second area is offering some new technologies to the Indian Army for which our companies are currently bidding. Third is in the field of better education because we are offering the special courses for the Indian soldiers to study in the Czech Military Academy and this is something which is working very well for the last 4 years. The last area is research and development where we have a very close collaboration with the DRDO.

Is the Czech Republic looking keenly at India’s mining sector?

Yes, of course, mining is a big area for collaboration. We are mining black and brown coal in the Czech Republic. We are having open cast mines. Also deep mining is something new for India and that is what Indian Ministry of Coal would like to go for. We were so pleased to have the Coal Minister of India visit the Czech Republic. We also have several delegations coming here to present on the new technologies, we also have our delegation participating at IMME. I can count 13-14 companies that are already active in India.

What role is the Czech Republic likely to play in the Indian Railway Industry?

As I have mentioned, there are several fields that we are focusing in the railways. One, of course, we were invited to participate in building of the corridors and we are already providing wheels and brakes to the Indian Railway industry but we undoubtedly want to do more. We are offering railway coaches, metro coaches and are discussing possibilities to do joint ventures in double deckers, construction and enhancing the capacity of transportation. We are talking with some organizations for providing coaches, and enhance on rail security. We are offering few new technologies in signaling and crossing system, and security system as well. We can also offer assistance in increasing the speed of the trains from 130 kmph up to 160 kmph.

Please talk us through India Central Europe Business Forum.

This is very good initiative launched by India. We definitely are an active player in the forum as this is something we missed in the past. India was earlier pushing more on the relations with the big players, and forgetting the little countries in Central Europe. This is definitely an initiative to return the focus back. The main emphasis is put on the economic and industrial collaboration. There was a first round of the initiative that took place last year in March where the Czech Republic was the partner country. We are very supportive towards this initiative and continue to do so in the future as well. I am so glad the Minister of External Affairs of India has also been supporting this initiative.