We welcome the creation of a government committee on strategic investments to coordinate activities and seek to improve the investment environment in our country. We would also like to offer the committee a helping hand - we have the know-how, experience of working with investors and up-to-date information from them on what bothers them most about the investment environment in the Czech Republic. We are ready to participate as guests in relevant working groups of the Committee.
In our experience, an investor who wants to place a new investment mainly evaluates the following criteria:
- above all, they want to be welcomed in the country
- needs good infrastructure, including the property in which to operate
- requires sufficient skilled labour or requires a high degree of digitalisation
- he looks at investment incentives and compares them with other countries that might be considered for his investment
The Czech Republic has room for improvement in all of these factors. And thus increase the chances of attracting foreign investors, including those involved in development, research and advanced technologies.
We consider the establishment of the Government's Strategic Investment Committee to be a step in the right direction. Now everything still needs to be properly worked out. As an association representing the interests of investors in our country, we are ready to participate intensively in this work.
More on this topic in the 90'on CT24 programme, in which Ondřej Votruba, Executive Director of AFI, was a guest (his entry starts at 1:01 in the recording, in Czech language only)