捷克 社民党副主席 卫生部副部长伦卡·阿诺什托瓦(Lenka Teska Arnostova)

　　伦卡·阿诺什托瓦(Lenka Teska Arnostova),女,捷克社民党副主席。

　　1975年出生,获捷克查理大学法学院博士学位。2008年加入社民党。2010-2014年担任布拉格市议员并任市议会社会政策委员会主席,2014年2月担任卫生部副部长,2015年3月任现职。

The Czech-Chinese bilateral cooperation

Our cooperation with the People’s Republic of China is one of our main foreign policy priorities. The relations are friendly and increasingly mutually beneficial.

·The Czech Republic was among the first countries that recognized the PRC. We are honored that Chinese President Xi Jinping conducted his landmark visit to the Central and Eastern Europe by visiting the Czech Republic in March 2016.

Signing of Joint Declaration on building our strategic partnership, during President Xi Jinping’s visit in Prague, is a real milestone in the Czech-Chinese diplomatic ties. It is a testament of deepening and strengthening of our relations.

We appreciate that the Chinese leadership and business community are welcoming and facilitate interactions between companies from different sectors: trade, healthcare, industry, education, tourism and environment.

On a practical level, establishing the direct flights between Prague and Beijing and Prague and Shanghai greatly contributed to creating strategic connections not only between the Czech Republic and China but also for the wider Central Europe.

These links have simplified and sped up trips for officials, businessmen but also general public. We have noticed a growing number of Chinese tourists and it is anticipated that more Chinese tourists will travel to the Czech Republic in the future.

We believe that it is equally vital to simultaneously build ties on regional/provincial and city levels. In 2015, we opened a new Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chengdu and this February, the first charter flight between Chengdu and Prague took place.

· CzechTourism informed that there were twenty-eight influential Chinese tour operators and journalists among the passengers and they participated in a 10-day program with the aim to explore our key tourist locations. Their feedback was valuable. Apparently they enjoyed their stay in the Czech Republic very much.

We are centrally located in the heart of Europe, a crossing between West and East, and potential investors in China could find this geographical advantage appealing when considering investments or tourist activities in Europe.

The Czech Republic is often chosen for its security, cleanness and attractions:

· wedding tourism (romantic photo shooting), touring Prague as a location where the Chinese movie “Somewhere Only We Know” was made, family holidays, spas, outdoor activities, castles, golf and wellness

Regionally, the cooperation between the province Sichuan and our Central Bohemian region is a good case in point of a successful investment. We can congratulate ourselves for celebrating a tenth anniversary of establishing the operation of the factory in Nymburg which produced nearly one million TV sets last year.

· We welcome Changhong’s initiative to set up a research and development center, an endeavor that will no doubt provide more employment.

Prague (District 1) and the Central District of Beijing (Chaoyang) signed the Partnership Agreement, which, we believe, will greatly contribute to cooperation in cultural exchanges, education, health care, tourism, trade and services for citizens.

These examples greatly strengthen the Czech-Chinese economic relations, and this is in line with the priorities of the current Czech government.

The Czech Republic supports China’s vision of One Belt, One Road (OBOR). We look forward to learning more information about specific ways how Beijing will proceed with implementing this vision in Europe, and specifically in the Czech Republic.

· OBOR appears to be about ‚connections‘, an area, in which we have developed a solid network of business partnerships, through our dense infrastructure and our membership in the European Union.

The Czech Republic is also very actively participating in the 16+1 forum. We believe that with more debates and exchanges we are going to see many positives of building ties with China on various levels and through different platforms in Europe and globally.

Let us continue with a friendly and open dialogue, sharing best practices and deepening our mutual trust.