CzechInvest probes opportunities presented by the stronger Swiss franc
4 Jun. 2015 | CzechInvest | Representatives of the agency are collaborating with the Czech trade councillor in Bern.
The first annual Investment Management Exhibition took place at the prestigious Zurich Exhibition Centre from 19 to 21 May 2015. CzechInvest attended this conference of investment agencies with presentations of investment opportunities in the Czech Republic, an overview of financial support offered to investors and a description of the potential of individual industrial sectors.
Together with the trade councillor from the Czech embassy in Bern, representatives of CzechInvest took part in a number of meetings with potential investors, during which they presented the attractiveness of the Czech Republic and a spectrum of offered services.
Others participating in the exhibition with stands and presentations included, for example, the Barcelona City Council, Greater Zurich Area, Swiss Innovation Park, Advanced Technology International of Switzerland, and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, as well as representatives of the Polish economics ministry, the Invest Bulgaria Agency and the Croatian embassy.
The CzechInvest representatives continued their roadshow around Switzerland, travelling to Basil, where they held meetings with, for example, I-net Innovation Networks Switzerland, which is intensively promoting cooperation with Basil-based institutions in the field of innovation, research and development. Topics included primarily Czech centres of excellence in the area of life sciences and medical technology with a focus on IT.
The series of events and meetings in Switzerland is related to CzechInvest’s current efforts to attract to the Czech Republic more Swiss investors, who could be motivated by the recent strengthening of the Swiss franc against the euro.
“After the easing of the exchange rate with respect to the euro, small and medium-sized Swiss firms are optimising their costs and one of the ways to do that is to find new production sites. In connection with this, the Czech Republic is attractive for Swiss firms,” said Rudolf Opatřil, trade councillor at the Czech embassy in Bern.
“We have recently been registering an increase in the number of requests from Swiss entities for information about the investment environment in the Czech Republic and offered financial support,” said Martin Partl, CzechInvest’s foreign representative for Germany and Switzerland.
