Prague/Manila - Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer met with the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday during his Asian tour.
Deputy presidential spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo told Manila Bulletin that Fischer's two-day visit "signaled his government's commitment to further strengthen not only the political and economic but also the people-to-people relations between the two countries".
The purpose of the bilateral meeting between the two leaders and their delegation members was to boost investments and development cooperation and deepen cultural relations between the two countries, which ended in 2004 with the Czechs entering the European Union.
"There is a proposal to revive that economic partnership on a bilateral basis. We would welcome that because we can now pursue previous discussions that ended in 2004," Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila said in a statement.
Karel Kramář Awards
The Czech PM bestowed six awards of Karel Kramář to prominent Filipinos for contributions to the relations between the Czech Republic and the Philippines. Among the awardees was foreign monister Alberto Romulo who visited the Czech Republic last September.
At that time he expressed his hope the Czech government would soon make it easy for Filipino nurses to start working in the country. There are about 8 million Filipinos living and working abroad with over 500 Filipinos in the Czech Republic.
In 2008, bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to 150 million US dollars. Philippine exports to the Czech Republic are mainly special electronics components, furniture, tropical fruits, garments and agricultural products. Czech companies are involved in construction business.
Fischer's first time
It will not be the first time Jan Fischer visits the country. As the Chairman of the Czech Statistics Office, he attended the International Statistical Conference in Manila in October 2007.
Diplomatic relations between the Czech Republic and the Philippines have a long history. They were first established through the signing of a joint communique with then Czechoslovakia in 1973.
However, both countries started to cooperate more intensively only after the fall of communism in the 1990s.
Former president Václav Havel visited the country in 1995.
The archipelago of seven thousand islands is yet to be discovered by Czech tourists, while Filipino travellers come to visit Prague largely because of the statue of Infant Jesus of Prague, placed in Our Lady of Victory Church.
