Prime Minister Babiš: The World Economic Forum provides the opportunity to hear lots of interesting opinions

On 24 and 25 January 2019, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He participated in the discussion panels on globalization 4.0 and the future of Europe. He talked with the Brazilian President and the Vietnamese Prime Minister. He also met with many representatives of major global companies.

The Prime Minister attended two discussion panels at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The working lunch of world economic leaders was focused on globalization 4.0. In the debate, the Prime Minister focused on promoting the Czech Republic as a country ready to support innovation and the introduction of new technologies in industrial production and digitization of State administration. The second panel discussed the future of Europe. Other top politicians, such as the Spanish, Croatian, Slovak, Polish and Slovenian Prime Ministers or Serbian president and others, have joined the debate.

Andrej Babiš with members of the delegation Vladimir Dzurilla and Karel Havlicek, 25 January 2019.

“As the President of the Czech Government last year it was my first time here after 18 years. This is the largest concentration of politicians and global companies in one place. One can meet a lot of politicians and businessmen in a short time and can get a lot done in a day and a half. This saves time and provides the opportunity to hear lots of interesting opinions”, said Babiš  about the two days in Davos.

Prime Minister Babiš also had two important talks with foreign partners scheduled in Davos. On the first day, he met with the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. They discussed business opportunities in relation to traditional brands such as Baťa, Škoda or Tatra. The Prime Minister introduced the project The Country for The Future, talked also about the V4 Group, and both politicians shared a common position on migration. In addition, they focused on the issue of economic cooperation, especially in the aviation and defence industry and in research.

Prime Minister Babiš with brazilian president Bolsonaro, 24 January 2019.

The next day, the Czech Prime Minister met with the Vietnamese Prime Minister. They spoke first of all about cooperation in science and research, the introduction of a direct Hanoi-Prague line and the possibilities of introducing short-term visa-free tourist stays for Czech tourists traveling to Vietnam. “We have had excellent relationship with Vietnam for a long time. However, we agreed that this is not fully reflected in mutual trade, and although it is increasing, our companies have a great opportunity to grow strongly in Vietnam”, added the Prime Minister.

Andrej Babiš with the vietnamese Prime Minister, 25 January 2019.

Prime Minister Babiš also had a number of meetings with important business people in Davos. He met with John Donovan, CEO of AT&T Communications, to discuss the innovation strategy The Country for The Future. Another interesting meeting was with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc. The Prime Minister invited Mr Cook to build the first Apple Store in Prague. The meeting with IBM leadership, headed by Vice President Martin Schroeter, focused on IBM’s support for building an artificial intelligence centre in the Czech Republic, while talks with VISA’s CEO Charlotte Hogg opened up opportunities for collaboration with their innovation centre for transport. At a meeting with Ken Hu, the CEO of Huawei, Prime Minister Babiš stressed the need to launch a broad debate on cyber security at the level of all EU Member States.

Meeting with Apple Inc. executive director, Tim Cook, 24 January 2019

At Davos World Economic Forum the Prime Minister was accompanied by Karel Havlíček, Deputy Chairman of the Government R&D Council, and Vladimír Dzurilla, Government Representative for IT and Digitization.