Sep - British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

InterviewRené Samek is the Director of UK and IrelandOperations at CzechInvest, the Czech governmentagency for business developmentand investment promotion. He graduatedfrom Charles University in Prague and alsostudied at the Central European Universityin Prague and Budapest, where he obtaineddevelopment programmes. We also act as an intermediary between the EU andsmall and medium-sized enterprises in implementing EU structural funds in theCzech Republic.We have changed our name from CzechInvest: Czech Agency for ForeignInvestment, to CzechInvest: The Investment and Business Development Agency,but potential foreign investors should not be afraid that we will put less emphasison attracting foreign investment. On the contrary, the merger prompted us to lookDo not neglect the Czech Republicat our services and information materials and after a bit of restructuring and consolidation,our services to the potential investor and our information materials willbe better than ever!The role of our foreign offices remains unchanged: to promote the CzechRepublic to potential investors abroad and work with colleagues in Prague and theCzech regions on helping the investors choose the Czech Republic over our rivalcountries. Competition is tough – almost every country of the world has an investmentpromotion office in London.Could you describe the structure of incoming investments? Has it changed overthe past few years (in the sense of traditional manufacturing projects versusbusiness development services, know-how etc.)?Most inquiries and projects come from the following six sectors: automotive components,electronics, plastic components, precision engineering, software developmentand business support services, (shared services, call centres and high-tech repaircentres). These are also our target sectors – most of my marketing activities in theUK are directed towards them.The last two years saw a big shift towards higher value added manufacturingprojects and non-manufacturing projects. In 2001-2 the London office had just ahandful of inquiries in business support services and software development. Today,these sectors account for nearly one-third of all my inquiries and I am confidentthat in a year or two more than half of inquiries/projects from the UK will be nonmanufacturingknowledge based projects.The London office was the first point of contact for successful projects such asDHL Systems (pan-European IT support centre), Symbol Technologies (high-techrepair centre) and Ricardo (design of automotive components).his Master’s degree in the field of InternationalRelations and European Studies, and at theLondon School of Economics, where he obtainedanother Master’s in Political Economy. Hehas been with CzechInvest since 1997 – he wasthe Deputy Director of Marketing and theMarketing Director for four years before comingto London at the end of 2001 to headthe agency’s UK & Ireland office.We asked him a few questions about therole of CzechInvest in the UK and the structureof incoming investments, as well the CzechRepublic as an investment target.What is the mission of the ‘new’ CzechInvestafter the merger of the Ministry of Trade andIndustry’s agencies – Agency for BusinessDevelopment (ARP) and Agency for Developmentof Industry in the Czech Republic(CzechIndustry) with CzechInvest? What isthe specific role of the London/UK branchof CzechInvest?CzechInvest contributes to attracting foreigninvestment and developing domestic companiesthrough its free-of-charge services and severalHow would you define the CR as an investment target? Does it have somespecific characteristics in comparison with other neighbouring states?The Czech Republic offers a unique combination of a strategic location in the centreof Europe, well developed infrastructure, highly educated and technically skilled labourforce and low costs. There are many countries in southeastern Europe and theformer Soviet Union where labour is cheaper than in the Czech Republic, but theyusually lack one or more of the other advantages of the Czech Republic. You maybe able to produce your products cheaper further East, but getting the products toyour clients in Germany may be significantly more expensive and time consumingthan from the Czech Republic.The availability of technically skilled labour, especially university-educated engineers,has become the most important factor in our success in attracting foreign investment.The Czech Republic still has a large percentage of students graduating inscience and technology subjects. This theoretical background is combined with aninnovative approach of Czech people that helps to find solutions to almost everytechnical problem. Let us hope that young Czechs will not turn their backs on thesedisciplines and the Czech Republic will be able to maintain this advantage.One of the significant advantages the Czech Republic offers to British companiesand entrepreneurs is the excellent accessibility of Prague and the rest of the CzechRepublic. I know that you in Prague are fed up with all these stag parties, but dueto Prague’s popularity you can fly to Prague directly from twelve UK airports – noother city in Central and Eastern Europe can offer you that. I have been contacted bya company from Carlisle – they want to be able to fly to their future Czech subsidiaryin the morning and be back in Carlisle in the evening. They were very pleased tohear that from the end of October they will be able to choose between Newcastleand Glasgow airports. (ČSA Czech airlines are introducing their Prague–Glasgowroute on 30th October).4 FOCUS SEPTEMBER 2004