Prime Minister Sobotka and Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Silva discuss cooperation in digitisation

On Monday, 28 August 2017, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka received the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Portuguese Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, in the Straka Acadamy. He discussed with him the Directive on posting of workers, cooperation in the digital economy and digitisation of state administration, migration and cooperation within EU in the field of defence and security.

Czech-Portuguese relations have a long history. The interest of both countries in the development of mutual relations is confirmed by the intensity of visits at the highest level or by the activities of the Czech Consulate of Honour in Portugal.

European issues were the main topic of the meeting. The parties focused mainly on the issue of posting of workers, which is key for the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is actively striving for a compromise which would be acceptable for all member states. The Czech Republic works closely with V4, within the frame of which it has been working with the countries of Benelux and France in the last few months. In August, a meeting took place under the Slavkov format with the participation of French President Macron.

Cooperation in the digital economy, which the Czech Republic perceives as a priority area, was another key topic of the discussion. For this reason, in mid-2016, the office of the Digital Agenda Coordinator of the Government Office was established. He/she coordinates the activities of all responsible departments and communicates with industry representatives. The issue of computerisation of public administration is an important point in this sphere, where the government considers as its priorities primarily the provision of faster and better implementation of eGovernment services. In this context, the Czech Republic welcomes the Estonian Presidency of the EU Council EU, which has set a digital Europe and free movement of data as one of its priorities.

The partners also talked about migration. The main objective of European migration policy is to gain full control over the external borders, ensure efficient management of migration flows, including effective return policies and ensure security in the Schengen Area. During the meeting, the prime minister reiterated that the Czech Republic is ready to send 160 people within the European Coast and Border Guard. The prime minister also said that due to Libya’s key role in migration, the government of the Czech Republic approved in July this year the provision of approximately EUR 1 million for the training of the Libyan Coast Guard and EUR 1 million to combat people smuggling in Sahel.

The meeting also focused on bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic field. The newly established Economic and Trade Council between the two countries or the Portuguese-Czech Chamber of Commerce, which will start its activities this September, should contribute to the development of Czech-Portuguese cooperation. Education and tourism were identified as other prospective areas of cooperation.