Press Advisories

4. 9. 2019 18:32

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček promote Czech companies’ interests in Turkey

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš gave a speech at the opening of the Turkey-Czech Economic Forum in Istanbul, 4 September 2019.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš gave a speech at the opening of the Turkey-Czech Economic Forum in Istanbul, 4 September 2019.
The Czech delegation, headed by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, spent the second day of this official visit to Turkey in Istanbul. The agenda primarily concerned economic matters, and in talks with the Turkish side the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček promoted Czech companies’ interests on the Turkish market. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have been accompanied in Turkey by a large delegation from Czech businesses.

The representatives of the Czech government and business talked for instance with representatives of the Anadolu Group, a major Turkish company that currently employs approximately 90,000 people and is working with Tatra. The Czech truck manufacturer wants to bid for a tender to supply 476 trucks for the Turkish army. Czech companies are also interested in tenders to supply radars and specialised information systems for various types of military vehicles.

“I talked about a possible contract for Tatra with President Erdoğan. He wasn’t familiar with the Tatra marque and talked instead about Kamaz, but I told him: No, Tatra is the best in the world!” Prime Minister Andrej Babiš remarked. “Our delegation also discussed this today in talks with companies, and I think we’re all satisfied that they’ve resulted in concrete conclusions and concrete plans,” he added.

Prime Minister Babiš, Deputy Prime Minister Havlíček and the Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank also officially opened a Turkish-Czech economic forum before visiting Istanbul Technical University. The second largest university in Turkey, it has thirteen faculties and as many as 40,000 students at present. The Czech delegation also visited Teknopark Istanbul, a science and technology park and innovation hub that supports Turkish start-ups and facilitates contacts with established large enterprises. “The Turkish government offers significant support for young entrepreneurs and we’re naturally interested in cooperation – we’re gathering information and making contacts,” the Prime Minister said. Last year 620 start-ups were operating in Teknopark Istanbul, developing for instance software for smartphones and smartwatches and working on other innovative products.

After a boat trip on the Bosporus the Prime Minister met the Governor of Istanbul, Ali Yerlikaya. Again talks mainly concerned opportunities for bilateral cooperation and above all potential Czech projects in Istanbul.

At the close of his official visit to Turkey Prime Minister Babiš and his delegation visited the CNR Food Istanbul trade fair, where after the official opening the Prime Minister toured the fair and opened the Czech stand. Seven companies are representing the Czech food industry at the fair.

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