Czechs plan to export arms, turbines, infrastructure to Pakistan
By Prague Daily Monitor/ČTK / Published 10 May 2007
Islamabad, May 9 (CTK) - Czech trade with Pakistan has been growing after a stagnation in the 1990s, and so has the number of Czech companies active in the Asian country, CTK learnt in a poll today.
Businessmen accompanying Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek on a three-day visit to Pakistan said they wanted to export arms and water turbines to Pakistan, as well as to take part in building local infrastructure.
Czech arms maker Ceska zbrojovka is in talks on the supply of several hundred sniper rifles and several thousand pistols to the Pakistani armed forces.
Czech Mavel is negotiating supplies of turbines for small hydro-electric plants, while ERA is in talks on exports of its Vera radars.
Some Czech companies are already active in Pakistan. Czechs will take part in the construction of the Baloki steam-gas power station. Moravske naftove doly extracts about 300 million cubic metres of gas in Pakistan annually, said its manager Pavel Marek.
Czech trade with Pakistan has been growing for eight years. In 2006, it rose by $12 million year-on-year to about $72 million.
But the Czech Republic has been in the red since 1995. In 2006, Czech exports to Pakistan amounted to $31 million and imports reached $41 million.
The Czech Republic exports above all paper and confectioner's goods, machinery for the textile industry and glass to Pakistan, and imports clothes and textiles from the country.
Czech Economic Chamber president Jaromir Drabek said he expected the Czech balance with Pakistan to continue to grow, although potential political instability in Pakistan is a risk.
"The growth will probably not exceed 50 percent year-on-year, but 20-30 percent is an absolutely realistic figure," said Drabek.
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