OREANDA-NEWS. November 21, 2011. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation has hosted a meeting of RF CCI President Sergey Katyrin and President of the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic Petr Kuzel. RF CCI Vice-Presidents Georgy Petrov and Vladimir Strashko also attended the meeting.

In his welcoming address Sergey Katyrin gave a very high rating to Petr Kuzel’s activity aimed at the promotion of Russian-Czech bilateral relations.  In the opinion of the Chamber President, conditions must be created for direct contacts between businessmen in both countries. Hence, it is important to develop relations between territorial chambers uniting businessmen of Russia and the Czech Republic. Information about business, joint project options and possible partners in various economic branches would be an important step in the broadening of business contacts.

In the words of Sergey Katyrin, the Czech Republic is well known to Russia; its products are popular and acclaimed. Business relations will restore the lost contacts and open new markets to Czech businessman, RF CCI President Sergey Katyrin said. Many constituents of the Russian Federation have investment projects, and the RF CCI is implementing the concept of the investor navigation infrastructure, Sergey Katyrin said. The Chamber may render assistance to Czech enterprises seeking an access to the Russian market and to Russian companies interested in the Czech market, Sergey Katyrin concluded.

In his reply speech, President of the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic Petr Kuzel dwelt on certain aspects of the interaction between his Chamber and the RF CCI. He stressed, in particular, that the development of relations with Russia and the establishment of direct contacts with the RF CCI was a priority of the Czech Chamber. Petr Kuzel lauded the work of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for CIS Member States, a subsidiary of the Czech Economic Chamber, in the broadening of Russian-Czech business cooperation, including that between regions. The CCI for CIS Member States will keep working on particular projects, he stressed. At the same time, it is necessary to build up the role of the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic in Russian-Czech economic relations. Petr Kuzel believes that the new agreement on cooperation between the RF CCI and the Czech Chamber in modernization and innovations, which is due to be signed during an official visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Prague in early December 2011, will be very helpful.

Sergey Katyrin and Petr Kuzel had a constructive discussion of the draft agreement and confirmed that it was practically ready for signing.

RF CCI Vice-President Vladimir Strashko informed Petr Kuzel about the events planned by the Chamber for the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission, including a roundtable on tourism and a roundtable on the involvement of small and medium companies in modernization projects. The Business Council for Cooperation with the Czech Republic is actively assisting the organization of the aforesaid events.

The sides also discussed other aspects of inter-Chamber cooperation of mutual interest.