As part of his three-day visit, Lipavsky will meet top officials of both states. Photo credit: Jan Lipavský, via Facebook.
Prague, May 19 (CTK) – Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky (Pirates) will visit Saudi Arabia and Iraq next week along with representatives of 15 Czech industrial companies, the Foreign Ministry told CTK yesterday.
As part of his three-day visit, he will meet top officials of both states.
The Czech delegation’s trip will last from 23-25 May.
“The minister’s political talks with top officials of Saudi Arabia and Iraq will focus on the development of bilateral relations as well as on current political and security developments in the Middle East region, in which both countries play a key role,” the ministry said.
In Iraq, Lipavsky will also meet representatives of allied military missions where Czech experts are deployed. In Saudi Arabia, a working meeting on the human rights situation in the country is scheduled.
The participation of Czech industry in the development plans of Saudi Arabia and Iraq is to be supported by one-day business forums, which Lipavsky will open. The key industry in Saudi Arabia and Iraq is oil and its processing.
Saudi Arabia’s trade with the Czech Republic was close to 10 billion crowns in 2021, and has long been in surplus for the Czech Republic, based on information from the BusinessInfo.cz portal, run by the state agency CzechTrade. Imports from Iraq to the Czech Republic are historically minimal, while exports are above 1 billion crowns a year.
Last November, a Czech delegation of representatives of several ministries attended the second meeting of the Czech-Saudi Joint Commission in Riyadh. The two sides discussed cooperation in tourism and energy and also addressed trade and investment promotion.
The Aero Vodochody company overhauled 12 L-159 aircraft for Iraq in recent years, the last of which flew to Iraq in February.
