2006: The largest inflow of foreign investment into the CR in CzechInvest’s history

The number of received projects and the volume of investments in 2006 were the largest in the agency's history, far surpassing the totals for 2005 (151 projects). Thanks to these projects, at least 34,824 new jobs should be created in the coming years.

"In the Czech Republic, foreign investors find a highly skilled workforce, advantageous geographic location and favourable operating costs. Of course, all of these advantages are particularly beneficial for domestic companies that are gradually becoming significant players in the global market," says Tomas Hruda, CEO of CzechInvest.

"The volume of investment in excess of USD 4.6 billion is an absolute record. To illustrate - if we added up the financing granted for all projects mediated in 2004 and 2005, we still wouldn't reach this year's figures," Hruda explains. "Among the received projects, there is also a very large number of projects with high added value. For 2006 we have a total of 44 projects involving technology centres and centres of shared services, which is the largest number of such projects in the agency's history. In coming years CzechInvest will focus more intently on sophisticated investments with high added value. These projects are among the most attractive because they bring technological know-how, attract top-notch specialists and reinforce the Czech Republic's good name abroad."

Most of the investment projects and the largest volume of investment (USD 2.2 billion) were directed to the Moravia-Silesia region. The second most attractive location was the Usti region, with a total volume of USD 0.6 billion). The Moravia-Silesia and Usti regions are among the areas worst affected by structural problems.

"Expansions account for half of the ten largest investments on which we worked in the past year. This indicates that investors have been successful in the Czech Republic and want to further develop their operations here, and are decidedly not planning to leave the country," says Rene Samek, director of CzechInvest's Investment and Applied Research Support Division. "We also successfully mediated orders for Czech companies. With our assistance, companies from the Czech Republic concluded supplier contracts worth nearly two billion Czech crowns."

Since it was established in 1992, CzechInvest has been involved in 771 investment projects in the total value of USD 18.566 billion. Nearly 154 000 people have found direct employment in supported projects. Thousands of other jobs have been created in connection with supported investments.

Largest investment projects in 2006 - manufacturing

Largest investment projects in 2006 - SC and TC

_{SC: Shared services centre
TC: Technology centre}