PM Sobotka: The CR has a great potential to boost significantly its cooperation with Japan in trade, investment, as well as new technologies

During his four-day official visit to Japan, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka met Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, President of the Lower Chamber of Japanese Parliament, Tadamori Oshima, and Crown Prince, Naruhito. He discussed a cooperation enhancement in trade, investment and new technologies with the managements of Asahi Breweries and Shimadzu. At the end of his official visit to Japan, Prime Minister Sobotka paid tribute to the memory of the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka was accompanied by Minister of Industry and Trade, Jiří Havlíček, Minister of Culture, Daniel Herman, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Václav Kolaja, Deputy Minister of Defence, Tomáš Kuchta, Deputy Minister of Culture, Patrik Košický, and Member of Parliament and Mayor of Náchod, Jan Birke. A large business delegation also accompanied the Prime Minister to Japan.

Czech Prime Minister Sobotka and his Japanese counterpart Abe discussed the cooperation in economy, culture, transport, as well as international policy issues. In addition, Mr Sobotka commemorated the 60^th anniversary of the resumption of Czech-Japanese diplomatic relations.

The Prime Minister paid great attention to the talks on enhancing the cooperation in trade, investment and modern technologies between the Czech Republic and Japan. He discussed this with the management of Asahi Breweries, the owner of the Plzeňský Prazdroj brewery since the spring of this year. He also met the management of Shimadzu, a company manufacturing technological, medical and laboratory equipment, as well as focusing on its own research.

Important memoranda and agreements were signed during Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka’s visit:

• Visa Agreement on Work Holidays between the Czech Republic and Japan – this will enable people at the age of 18-30 to work, study and travel in the other country for 12 months.
• Memorandum of Cooperation between CzechInvest, an investment and entrepreneurship promotion agency, and JETRO, its partner agency – to promote bilateral activities focused on investments in both countries and on increasing their trade exchange.
• Framework Security Agreement on Cooperation on Third Markets between state-owned Export Guarantee and Insurance Corporation, EGAP, and NEXI – to allow agency cooperation in third countries.
• Memorandum of Understanding between Shimadzu and International Clinical Research Centre of St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno – this will enable them to cooperate on developing a mass spectrometer, which can also be used in brain tumour research.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka concluded his visit to Japan in Hiroshima, where he paid tribute to the memory of the victims of the atomic bombing during World War II. On the spot, he viewed what is known as the Atomic Bomb Dome. Built by Czech architect Jan Letzel, it was one of the few structures that survived the atomic bombing.

The Czech Prime Minister visited Japan after 12 years from the last visit by a Czech Prime Minister.