By IANS
New Delhi : The Czech Republic, one of New Delhi’s earliest backers for a permanent UN Security Council seat, sees its ties with India improving on the back of growing economic and political exchanges, its envoy here said.
“We have progressed quite a lot in the political and economic sphere,” Ambassador Hynek Kmonícek said, noting that trade between India and the erstwhile Czechoslovakia had now grown to $1 billion annually.
“We are seeing a growth of 25 percent annually. I am happy to say the balance (of trade) is almost equal,” Kmonicek told IANS on the sidelines of a Czech Food Festival that opened to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
“India is a country with amazing potential and great future. We can offer much experience and high technologies for developing our relations further,” the envoy said.
“Our two nations are in the perfect position for a fruitful, stable and reliable partnership in the coming years,” Kmonícek added.
Pointing to the growing interaction between the two countries, the envoy said that in the last three years, Czech President Vaclav Klaus had visited India and Prime Minister Jirí Paroubek had paid two visits.
“Our First Lady, Liua Klausova, is a regular visitor here and has many Indian friends who studied with her at the Prague School of Economics. I have even seen her wearing a sari,” the envoy noted.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will be visiting India Nov 18-21 while Senate President Premysl Sobotka will be here Dec 2-6 as part of the celebrations to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties.
The celebrations, in fact, kicked off in September with a series of seminars in several cities in south India.
“The seminars had a large participation and brought in new investors who confirmed their interest in investing in the Czech Republic,” Kmonícek said.
The food festival, at The Metropolitan Hotel, will run till Nov 4.
It will feature beers such as Pilsner, Urquell and Krusovice, sparkling wines, and the renowned liqueur Becherovka, as also gastronomic delights like svickoya, a meat dish with sour cream and dumplings; and Moravia sparrow, a potato pancake.
To create the perfect ambience, traditional band Fleret, led by cymbalist and singer Zuzana Lapcikova, will be performing every evening.
The Czech presence in India began in the 1920s when two representatives of the BATA footwear company came to India.
According to legend, one of them wired home: “No prospect for sales, everyone here runs around barefoot.” The other wired back: “Excellent prospect for sales, everyone here runs around barefoot.”
In the years since then, a number of Czech brands have become household names in India. Among them are Yezdi motorbikes and Zetor tractors, as also Skoda that has built more than 100 coal-fired power plants in this country and is today best known for its Octavia and Laura models of luxury sedans.
On the defence front, the Indian Army relies on the TATRA heavy trucks licensed manufactured here, to pull its artillery guns and tank transporters.