INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India Eliska Zigova, who is also accredited to Nepal, presented her credentials to
President Ramchandra Paudel
In her almost three decades of diplomatic career, the Czech envoy has served in various diplomatic missions in different capacities
She had served as Director, Asia and Pacific Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague, Czechia, before being appointed as Czech
Republic's Ambassador to India last year
Ram Kumar Kamat of The Himalayan Times caught up with her and discussed areas of cooperation between the two countries
Excerpts:How do you look at our bilateral relations? What needs to be done to promote them?
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presents credentials to President Paudel
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First of all, I would say our relations with Nepal have remained very friendly
There is no irritant in our relationship but I would like to see much more intensive cooperation.I would like to see our relations develop
further on all levels - political, business, culture and sports, but first of all I would like to focus on developing our political and
business relations.
What areas of trade do you think both Nepal and Czech Republic can benefit from through cooperation?At
present we have very little cooperation in trade
This is not because we have problems or we do not want it
There are no problems in our relationship
If we could not move faster in the field of trade, then it was because of the COV- ID-19 pandemic and lack of our ambassador in New Delhi
I have presented my credentials to the president.As far as the areas of cooperation are concerned, in 2015, there was an official visit from
our Ministry of Trade to Nepal and an agreement was signed, but it was not implemented.There was no return visit from the Nepali side
We hope that Nepal will now send its officials to our country
Officials from both sides can explore areas of cooperation.I think Nepal could benefit from Czech investment in hydel power, agriculture,
education etc.In what areas do you think Czech investors will be interested to invest in Nepal?Our investors may be interested to invest in
hydel power sector and automobile sector first
Skoda is a Czech company which produces cars in India
So, maybe it will be good to cooperate in this sector.Other areas where Czech investors may be interested to invest is infrastructure and
Business needs to expand between our two countries.What is the prospect of cooperation between the two countries in the tourism sector?Czech
people like adventure tourism
They are enthusiastic about trekking and mountaineering and you have very good destinations for our alpinists and trekkers.Nepal is popular
for cheap trekking and mountaineering
Our people love outdoor activities
If there are promotional programmes, I am sure people from our countries would love to visit Nepal
Many people who wanted to visit Nepal could not do so because of COVID-19 pandemic.During that time nobody travelled out of the
country.There are some limits, but I think more and more Czech people will visit Nepal
Czech people do not fancy luxurious hotels.Rather, they will be happy with the local environment, but of course, it must be clean and
I have the impression that you have such environment in mountainous areas
People in Nepal are very good at receiving tourists and guests.Nepal has received very little investment from your country
Do you see prospects of Czech investment increasing in Nepal in the near future?We have a war in Ukraine which is very brutal
It was unexpected because people never think that something like will ever happen in Europe
It has consequences for business as well because the Russian market is close for our businesses and there is Belarus and some other unsafe
countries around so now European businesses are looking to do business with Asian and South Asian countries.Our business people worked in a
different environment with a different mentality in the past and now they are dealing with a new business environment in Asia
As far as the investment from Czech Republic to Nepal is concerned, it is very much connected with the assessment of our investors
They will asses whether or not the Nepali market is good, safe and promising for their investment so I can't say it now how much they will
invest in Nepal.How can we develop our political relations?We can start with increased visits between our two countries and those visits
should not only be limited to higher level dignitaries, but also lower-level government officials from ministries as well as increased
people to people contacts.We very much appreciate Nepal's vote at the UN against Russian aggression in Ukraine because we know how difficult
it is for Nepal.You are between India and China and India was abstaining and remaining neutral on the Ukraine issue and China was not voting
against (Russian aggression)
This is appreciated and very well noted so we would like to increase political consultations with Nepal and it could be bilateral or
international consultations at the UN and different conferences.The Ukraine war has impacted the entire world
What impacts were felt in your country?In the beginning of the war, we received very large number of refugees from Ukraine
They were mostly women and children running away from war with just one suitcase in their hands
We managed very well to accommodate them because at that time there was no refugee camp
We proved that we could manage this crisis situation
The consequence of the war is that we, like other countries, have been cut off from Russian oil.Together with other EU countries, we have
managed energy from different sources
We are not dependent on Russia
The war has adverse impact on our business but not a great deal because we now have the opportunity to do business with other markets.This
war has caused more emotional impacts in Europe
On Thursday, attacks were launched on a coffee shop and grocery shops in Ukraine that killed 60 civilians.The war has seriously impacted the
food chain across the world because Ukraine grains cannot be exported to other countries.Sunflower oil is missing in India.Africa is now on
the brink of hunger as a result of this war
We need to have collective efforts to stop this crazy behaviour.Do you see any possibility of this war ending soon?This war could end if the
Russians leave the territories they occupied.But this is wishful thinking because they will not do it
I think it could go on to another year
Let's just hope that this war ends soon but we have to prepare ourselves for a longer war because war is war and armies are fighting
The Russian side is targeting infrastructure and civilian places such as pizzeria, coffee shops and hospitals.Some are comparing Russian
aggression to that of attacks launched by Hamas and ISIS against Israel.What are your views on rules-based international order?Rules based
order is very important to keep international peace and maintain progress
It is because of rules based order that we cannot agree to lose Ukrainian territory.There are some people who say let's agree on some
territorial loss for Ukraine and have peace, but we cannot agree to that because that will set a bad precedent in the world
It will embolden some forces and they might think 'we can do whatever we want.' To keep rules-based order we must tell those that think that
being powerful gives them licence that okay you have power but you have to behave in accordance with the rules and you cannot do anything to
a small and weaker neighbour.A version of this article appears in the print on October 8, 2023, of The Himalayan Times
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com