The Czech Republic and Saxony Want to Support Industry

The Czech Republic and Saxony intend to work more closely together to advance their interests as industrial hubs. This is one of the outcomes of a meeting in Prague between Saxony’s Minister-President Michael Kretschmer and Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlicek. Both politicians highlighted the negative impact of rising electricity prices and agreed to advocate for swift solutions at the European level, as a spokesperson for Kretschmer subsequently announced. These include, for example, adjustments to the European Emissions Trading System.

Both sides expressed their commitment to the project to build a new Ore Mountains tunnel as part of the planned Prague-Dresden-Berlin high-speed rail line. “I believe this is a generational project, and it is a clear commitment to how important the Czech Republic is to us in Germany,” said Kretschmer (CDU) in Prague.

Another topic was closer collaboration between the semiconductor industries in the Czech Republic and Saxony. Specific areas of collaboration include automotive chips, vehicle software, batteries, new materials, and the circular economy, officials said.

From Lithium to Hydrogen

The politicians discussed a joint European strategy for lithium extraction. The Ore Mountains are believed to hold about three percent of the world’s lithium reserves. The discussion also covered future technologies such as mini nuclear power plants and hydrogen, which is considered a promising new energy source. This comes against the backdrop of plans for a hydrogen pipeline more than 700 kilometers long between the Czech Republic and Germany.

The meeting with Havlicek was just one of many items on the agenda for Kretschmer’s two-day trip to Prague. Accompanied by Czech President Petr Pavel, he attended a reception marking German Unity Day at the German Embassy. It was there that the then-Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher had delivered the message to thousands of East German refugees in September 1989 that they were permitted to leave the country. A meeting with Richard Brabec, the president of the neighboring region of Ústí nad Labem (Aussig on the Elbe), was planned to conclude the trip.