Firstly, could
you introduce the main responsibilities of
your Ministry to our readers and what would
be the main challenges that you are facing
right now?
I am very glad we could meet because your
magazine is very important and does a lot
to make countries learn about each other.
Regarding the responsibilities of the Ministry,
I have the responsibilities of the member
of the government and I am also responsible
for the Ministry of Regional Development.
This includes the agenda of the European
integration in the questions of financial
help both before and after the accession
of the Czech Republic, tourism, and support
of the Czech Republic as a tourist destination,
agenda of regional development, construction,
and housing both from the aspect of financial
support and from legislation, and finally
a small but necessary issue of burial services.
As we come from a foreign magazine,
representing the country for foreign investors,
which parts of the agenda are the most interesting
for the foreign investors?
It would be the support of regional development,
such as industrial zones or local infrastructure
and of course territorial planning, which
is the base for regional development as
it tells what is going to be built where.
I think that investment into tourism and
the development of Czech Spas as a subsection
of the tourism is going to be very attractive
due to the ageing population and more people
willing to spend their holidays actively
and abroad.
One of the problems in the Central and
East European countries is that it is very
centralised, everything important is in
the capital. How are you trying to attract
foreign investors into the regions?
Our responsibility is to ensure a high
quality infrastructure, as it is the main
way to encourage investment inflows, because
if the investors do not have good roads,
they will not get to the Czech Republic
or its regions and will not be able to export
their products. Many investments can be
seen along the highways, for example the
Prague agglomeration is expanding beyond
Prague precisely along the highways. As
I am a lawyer by my education, I cannot
help to mention that the investors also
need stable legislation, so that the decisions
of state institution are predictable. Good
taxation system is the last step that can
encourage the profitability of the investment.
Therefore, the basic conditions are the
law and the infrastructure and the taxation
system could be an advantage.
What would be the Czech organisation
that you are co-operating with and could
you also tell us the ways of the communication
in attracting the investment to the regions?
The competencies in this are divided; the
large part is with the Ministry of Industry
and Trade. There is also the Government
agency Czech Invest, which I think is doing
a great job.
You also have representative offices
abroad and you also participate in exhibitions
if I am correct?
Yes, our Ministry does take part in exhibitions
and we have a representative abroad in the
agenda of tourism. For example, the latest
development now, is that through our office,
the Ministry is trying to create another
representative office in China, more precisely
in Shanghai.
Attracting tourists is one of the big
challenges of all the economies, beside
spas, you also have conference tourism,
active tourism. What would be the potential
in the future?
The Czech Republic has a lot to offer in
these areas. Conference tourism is an excellent
way of expanding tourism because the best
advertising of any tourist destination is
when satisfied people return from the destination
and later come back again with their families
to the spas or active holidays. We also
have very good opportunities for cycling
and golf.
There is also a co-operation between
some of the regions in Slovakia and the
Czech Republic. Could you tell us more about
it?
Slovakia is close to us for two reasons, first
geographically, second traditionally, because
we developed within the same state and there
are no language barriers between us. We try
to co-operate in many areas, including tourism.
We have established a so called trans-border
co-operation and mutual exchange of tourists.
We also present the Czech Republic and Slovakia
together, jointly for more distant countries,
such as China, Japan, or Australia, where
we do not compete. |
What about the developments in the construction
sector, especially housing is an important
issue?
Our Ministry has still to undertake such
reforms so that everyone has an opportunity
to find housing that is appropriate both
financially and according to the needs,
either for rent or for ownership. Here we
have a problem, because we inherited deregulated
prices from the previous government when
private owners could not reinvest into the
buildings and so could not take care of
the buildings they lived in, properly. This
is something we are trying to change on
the first place. We also want to enable
more freedom in the agreements between the
tenants and the owner. Finally, the Ministry
provides direct financial help to the regions
so that they could build housing. We also
want to improve that, to a financial help
with return. We also enable mortgages and
savings along similar standards of the EU.
The state is not an investor; it aims to
help people so that they could build their
own houses.
Once the Czech Republic enters the EU,
there will be no boundaries anymore. There
are going to be different regions of Europe.
What is your vision considering the future?
Do you envisage the joint action of some
of the parts of the Czech Republic with
Poland, for example, on the European market?
The co-operation exists already today.
The EU tries to prepare the candidate countries
how to proceed after the accession. It encourages
co-operation among regions across borders
and provides pre-accession financial help
so that our people can learn to use the
structural funds after the accession. There
are many examples, such as industrial zones
that operate across borders and joint commissions
of territorial planning.
Could you name some of the latest projects
that are already under way within the Ministry
of Regional Development?
There is a project of a joint industrial
zone on the border of the Czech Republic
and Saxon, Germany. The co-operation of
regions again depends on a good infrastructure,
not only on our part, but also on the part
of our partners. We want the Czech Republic
to be connected to the net of highways in
Europe. For example, we want to connect
our highway to the German highways, so that
it would not end somewhere in the fields
behind the borders.
Another important field of the investment
is the IT sector. There has been more and
more foreign companies investing in that
sector. What effect will it have on the
work of your Ministry?
This field develops enormously and I think
that it is mainly thanks the massive foreign
investment. The development can be seen
everywhere - the Czech Republic is one of
the countries with the largest usage of
mobile phones and we have a very good position
with respect to the access to the internet.
We are one of the first within the EU that
allowed the use of electronic signature.
Precisely because of that the Government
created a new ministry, the Ministry for
Information Technology, under Mr. Mlynár,
which is a proof that the government means
has very serious plans in that direction.
How do you co-operate with the different
majors or the representatives of the regions
to communicate the possibilities of the
regions abroad?
I think that the co-operation is very good.
We have many programs that we conduct along
with the mayors. With them, the co-operation
is traditional, whereas it is only developing
with the representatives of the regions
because several competencies are passed
onto them, so we have to find the best style
of co-operation. Our regions would deserve
to have their own budgetary competencies,
and we support them. We should follow the
principle of subsidiarity here, in that
every issue should be first dealt with at
the regional level and then at the state
level if necessary.
Mr. Nemec, could you tell our readers
about your professional background and how
you became head of a Ministry?
I am educated as a lawyer. Before I became
a Minister, I worked in one company, where
I reached the position of the first deputy
of the Director, from beginning at the lowest
position. Then I managed to buy the shares
of the company from a private owner, so
I became director of that firm. Afterwards,
in 1998, I was elected to the House of Representatives
for Unie Svobody (Union of Freedom) and
in 2002 I was re-elected. On the 15th July
2002 I was appointed Minister of Regional
Development. Also, before I was elected,
I worked for one of the representatives
for two years. It was a great advantage
because I learned about his work and found
it much easier to begin my work once elected.
Could you give a message to our readers?
The Czech Republic is a standard European
country with nice and flexible people and
I think that it would be a shame if the potential
investors did not try and use the skills of
the people here and the opportunities that
we have to offer. One proof is the emigrants
that we had in 1948 and 1968, who often worked
in high positions abroad. And because work
is not the only part of life, the Czech Republic
has a lot of beautiful opportunities for relaxation. |
V.I.P. INTERVIEWS
