On March 16, 2021, an online meeting was held at the invitation of ABSL Czech Republic representatives with Karel Havlíček, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvana Jirotková, Deputy Minister of Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship, and Zbyněk Pokorný, Director of Investment and Industrial Zones.
The aim of this meeting was to introduce the business services sector in the Czech Republic, to get acquainted with the activities of ABSL and to present business centers and their dynamic responses to the effects of the pandemic.
ABSL and the Minister agreed on joint future cooperation, in particular on the creation of a joint strategy for new foreign investors and the involvement of ABSL in strategic working groups.
Ota Kulhánek, President of ABSL Board of Directors, Jan Skoták, Infosys Country Director, Helena Tabakovová, ABSL Senior Operations Manager, and Václav Kopecký, CEC Government Relations Adviser, attended the meeting on behalf of ABSL Czech Republic. In an open discussion about the current hot topics from the business services sector, ABSL in particular pointed to the overall decline in new investors in the Czech Republic over the past one year, the decline in the recruitment of skilled labor from abroad and the low level of support from the state administration.
Following these facts, ABSL presented its proposal to include the business services sector as a separate sector in the classification of institutional sectors and subsectors and to actively involve ABSL in strategic and working groups of the government.
ABSL and Minister Karel Havlíček jointly came to the conclusion that the vision of ABSL is in line with the long-term government strategy for the promotion of the Czech Republic abroad. Karel Havlíček openly supported ABSL’s activities and offered future closer cooperation with Silvana Jirotková and Petr Oček, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. As part of this cooperation, ABSL will receive full support in providing data and information from the corporate and shared services sector, especially for potential investors who are interested in opening a new center in the Czech Republic. The Minister also welcomed the proposal to work together to develop a common strategy for new foreign investors in customer, business and IT services and to work together to care for existing investors and existing centers. The strategy will also include cooperation with consulting companies, which often bring their clients to the Czech Republic.
The business services sector currently employs over 120,000 people throughout the Czech Republic and is growing, creating a healthy ground for new entrepreneurs, investors and innovative solutions. The cooperation between ABSL and the Ministry of Industry and Trade will contribute to the promotion of the Czech Republic as a modern country and to the creation of care for current and future investors.
