Gujarat: Modi holds bilateral meeting with Czech counterpart Petr Fiala in Gandhinagar

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, held a bilateral meeting with his Czech counterpart, Petr Fiala, and reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries.

The leaders held discussions covering various sectors, including new and emerging technologies, automobiles, climate change, and defence in Gandhinagar.

“Deepening India-Czech partnership! PM @narendramodi held a fruitful meeting with PM @P_Fiala of the Czech Republic in Gandhinagar. The two leaders reviewed bilateral relations and held discussions covering various sectors, including new and emerging technologies, automobiles, climate change, and defense,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X.

Earlier in the day, speaking at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the Czech PM said that the potential for Czech-Indian collaboration is great not only in energy but also in wastewater treatment or sustainable agriculture, and added that he is interested in long-term strategic investment.

He said that the strategic investments would include AI (Artificial Intelligence) research and especially semiconductors.

“This is about the green environment, and the potential for Czech-Indian collaboration is great not only in energy but also in wastewater treatment or sustainable agriculture…” he underlined.

“My government is mainly interested in long-term strategic investment. This includes AI research, electromobility, and especially semiconductors. They are key for high-tech industries today, from cars to mobile phones,” Fiala said.

India and the Czech Republic share good bilateral economic relations, which gained momentum after the Czech Republic gained entry into the European Union in 2004. New mechanisms and diversified interaction thereafter resulted in the revival of bilateral trade to more than USD 3.16 billion in 2022, up from just USD 86 million in 1993 as per Czech statistics.

The bilateral defence cooperation gained momentum with the signing of the MoU on bilateral defence cooperation in October 2003. Accordingly, a Joint Defence Committee has been set up. So far six such meetings of JDC have taken place, with the last meeting taking place in New Delhi on February 3, 2020. The Czech defence companies have been regularly supplying military equipment to Indian armed forces.

India and the Czech Republic are working on niche technologies, given the latter’s strength as the incubator of Technologies in strategic sectors such as defence, nuclear energy, cyber security, AI, Big Data, nanotechnology, laser etc.

In June 2017, ISRO launched the Czech nanosatellite -VZLUSAT-1, the first Czech technological satellite.

The Czech Republic strongly supported India’s full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) through its constructive role in NSG, and in EU deliberations. The Czech Republic supported India in recently held elections for non-permanent membership in the UNSC for 2021-22 and also supports comprehensive reform of UN and India’s credentials for permanent membership of UNSC.

The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, arrived in India yesterday to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, which spanned three days from January 10-12. The Czech Premier was received at the airport by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. (ANI)