Press Advisories

11. 6. 201820:48

Premier Babiš and Saxon Prime Minister Kretschmer remembered the 25 years of Czech-Saxon cooperation

On Monday, 11 June 2018, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš attended a celebration of the 25th anniversary of signing the Joint Declaration of the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and the Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony in Dresden. With Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer he also discussed the development of cross-border transport infrastructure, and police and cultural cooperation.

At the meeting with Saxon Prime Minister Kretchmer, Premier Babiš said that both parties shared a number of identical strategic interests, such as economic cooperation and development of transport infrastructure in the form of building a high-speed railway connecting Prague and Dresden, or developing the navigability of the Elbe River.

Premier Babiš appreciated, among other things, the successful cross-border police cooperation where the police forces of both states can intervene on the other state's territory up to 10 km from the border. Two joint police centres have also been established.

"I take a homework from this meeting, to write a letter to German Chancellor Merkel where I want to emphasise how important the projects are that we have with Saxony as well as with Thuringia. The infrastructure projects between the Czech Republic and these states are very important for both parties, mainly for intensive economic cooperation and tourism," said Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

The meeting was also attended by First Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Richard Brabec, Agriculture Minister Jiří Milek and Culture Minister Ilja Šmíd.

Saxony is the first of the border regions, with which the Czech Republic established cooperation in the area of rescue services in 2015. The aim is to facilitate cross-border and pre-hospital emergency care and mutual assistance in difficulties. Subsequently, the same cooperation was launched with the Free State of Bavaria and, in 2017, with the border regions of Austria.

An example of the cooperation is the introduction of Czech language teaching at selected primary schools in Saxony, cooperation in flood protection, planned supplies of Czech trams to Chemnitz and scientific cooperation, mainly between the technical higher education institutions and the Fraunhofer Institute. A great potential is offered by the partnership of municipalities. The Czech Republic and the Free State of Saxony also submitted a joint application for inscribing the Mining Region Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Joint Declaration was signed in 1992 and followed up the Treaty between the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on good neighbour relations and mutual cooperation. On its basis, an intergovernmental working group was established, which will meet in Dresden at its 25^th session on 12 June 2018.

The Free State of Saxony represents for the Czech Republic the 5^th largest trade partner from among the German federal states, with a 7.7% share in the total foreign trade turnover with Germany. The Czech Republic and Saxony have in common their focus on mining industry, energy, mechanical engineering or the automotive industry.