DUSHANBE, October 23, 2014, Asia-Plus – Issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the Czech Republic were discussed here today at a meeting of Mr. Sharif Said, Head of Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), with Mr. Hynek Pejcha, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with residence in Tashkent.

According to the CCI press center, prospects of cooperation between the two countries were discussed in the context of the upcoming official visit of the President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman to Tajikistan.

The sides also discussed organization of a meeting of representatives of the business communities of the two countries that will take place in Dushanbe on the sidelines of the visit.

The main objective of the business forum is in helping Tajik and Czech entrepreneurs find potential partners and promoting establishment of direct mutually beneficial contacts between entrepreneurs and government bodies.

The CCI head noted that the Czech Republic was an important economic and trade partner of Tajikistan and the Czech Republic that had advanced technologies and equipment as well as highly skilled specialists could extend its presence in Tajikistan’s market by means of organizing exhibitions of its goods in Dushanbe.

Sharif Said, in particular, outlined sectors like hydropower, mining, mechanical engineering, non-ferrous metallurgy, construction, tourism, pharmaceutics and agriculture, as areas of which could drive the bilateral trade between Tajikistan and the Czech Republic.  

The President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman is expected to pay an official visit to Tajikistan in late November.

Milos Zeman is the third and current President of the Czech Republic, in office since 8 March 2013. Previously he served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002.  As leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party during the 1990s, he transformed it into one of the country''s major parties. He was Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament, from 1996 to 1998.  In January 2013, Zeman was elected as President of the Czech Republic. He is the first directly elected President in Czech history; both of his predecessors, Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus, were elected by the Parliament.