Czech Cities and Regions Rank Highly in Support for Foreign Direct Investment

According to the “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/2013” ranking compiled by the prestigious British fDi Magazine, Czech cities and regions are very well positioned in terms of supporting foreign direct investments. Brno, Ostrava and Cheb ranked in the top ten Eastern European cities with the best investment support. Three Czech regions – Central Bohemia, Plzeň and Pardubice – hold leading positions among the top ten Eastern European regions in this category. Furthermore, the British investment journal ranked Prague in the top ten business-friendly European capitals.

“I congratulate these Czech cities and regions on their results in this survey and I hope that they will continue to advance not only in various rankings, but mainly in the eyes of investors and that they will serve as inspiration for other cities and regions. Increasing their competitiveness is also the objective of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and CzechInvest,” says Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kuba.

“The results of the evaluation are both very pleasing for us and binding at the same time,” says Miroslav Křížek, CEO of CzechInvest, which has long worked to support the inflow of investments to the Czech Republic. “In the ever changing world of investment attractiveness, maintaining the Czech Republic’s competitiveness is a never-ending process.”

The cities of Brno, Ostrava and Cheb placed fifth, seventh and ninth respectively in the ranking of top ten Eastern European cities with the best strategies for supporting foreign direct investments. Among the top ten Eastern European regions, Central Bohemia ranked third, followed closely by the Plzeň and Pardubice regions in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Within its “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/2013” ranking, fDi Magazine evaluated 253 European cities and 110 European regions in seven categories: economic potential, human resources, cost effectiveness, quality of life, infrastructure, business friendliness and strategy for supporting for foreign direct investments. The complete “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/2013” ranking is available at http://www.fdiintelligence.com/Rankings2/European-Cities-and-Regions-of-the-Future-2012-13.

In connection with supporting new investments, CzechInvest focuses on nine key sectors. Besides the traditional automotive industry, the agency concentrates on attracting investors in the areas of aviation and aerospace, clean technologies, IT and software development, shared services, electronics and electrical engineering, life sciences and nanotechnology. “Besides supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic, attracting foreign investments to the Czech Republic is CzechInvest’s primary mission,” says Miroslav Křížek, adding: “We focus mainly on technologically demanding projects, which have high value added, thus high-quality, long-term projects connected with research, development and innovations.”

For more information please contact the CzechInvest Press Centre

Štěpánka Filipová, spokesperson, phone: +420 296 342 538, stepanka.filipova@czechinvest.org

Contact to Ministry of Industry and Trade:

Veronika Forejtová, spokesperson , phone: +420 224 853 291, forejtova@mpo.cz, press@mpo.cz