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‘B&R initiative’ to change Eurasian pattern: Czech official

By Guan Kejiang (People's Daily)    10:16, April 01, 2016

China and the Czech Republic reached more cooperation agreements than expected during President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit earlier this week. The two sides agreed to lifted their relationship to the strategic partnership level, which will help combine theCzech Republic’s development strategy with China-initiated “Belt and Road” program, said a senior Czech official who believed that the B&R initiative will bring benefits to en route countries and change the pattern of the Eurasian continent.

Jan Kohout, who is an advisor to the Czech President, said that given the different sizes of the two countries, their pragmatic cooperation should focus on local level. Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, for example, has forged a sister-city relationship with the Moravia-Silesia region of the Czech Republic.

Direct flights linking Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan and Prague, capital of the Central European country have also been launched. The former is an ideal stopover for the 300,000 Czech people traveling to Southeast Asia for vacations every winter.

Kohout also praised Xi’s pledge at a roundtable talks on bilateral economic and trade cooperation to encourage enterprises from both sides to build industrial and technology parks. The first such park will soon break ground in Nymburk, a city located 45 kilometers east of Prague on the Elbe River, said Kohout, adding that the European branch of Changhong, a major Chinese consumer electronics producer, has also been situated in the city.

“Bilateral collaboration on the research and development of small-sized aircraft are very successful. Nanotechnology, biotechnology and consumption electronics targeting the global market will be their new fronts,” he added.

RadomillDolezal, General Director of the trade promotion agency of the Czech Republic, noted that China has huge demand for robot technology, civil aviation, energy conservation, environmental protection, new materials, medical care and agricultural machinery as its “Made in China 2025” strategy aims to pursue an innovation-driven economic growth while lowering energy consumption.

These demands will create huge opportunities for foreign-funded companies including those from the Czech Republic, Dolezal commented.

Kohout also pointed out that some Westerners including the Czech people failed to understand the significance of B&R program, so he founded the Prague-based New Silk Road Institute, the only government-backed thinktank that is dedicated to the studies ofthe B&R initiative.

The initiative is an unprecedented plan themed with peace, development and win-win cooperation, said the advisor, adding that more economic growth hubs will emerge along the routes. The China-initiated proposal will bring new opportunities for en route countries and change the pattern of the Eurasia continent, he added.

Milan Tomanek, the head of Communications and Public Affairs of the Home Credit Group, a consumer finance provider in the Czech Republic, said that cooperation under the frameworkwill bring Czech and Chinese enterprises more growth chances, citing the successful example of the collaboration between his company and China’s mobile phone manufacturers.

In addition, a strategic agreement on nuclear cooperation was also inked by China’s CEFC Energy and China General Nuclear Power Group as well as Skoda Praha, the Czech Republic's largest power plant developer and theCzechElectrical and Electronic Association at the economic roundtable.

The cooperation, covering both technology and investment, marks the entrance of Chinese nuclear power to Europe. 

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Editor:Kong Defang,Bianji)

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