Prague, Jan 28 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman plans to visit Russia this or next year, he said at a meeting of Czech export leaders and added that he expects Czech businesspeople to have a good position in Russia after the economic sanctions imposed against it are lifted.
Next year, Zeman plans to visit Vietnam and India. He said he considers both countries potential markets for Czech goods.
Zeman said the opinion of the economic sanctions that the West imposed against Russia over the Ukraine crisis is gradually starting to change.
He supported his claim by the statement of French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron who said on Sunday France would like to lift the sanctions this summer.
The EU introduced the sanctions in March 2014 over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for the pro-Russian separatists in the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine that cost more than 9000 lives. Last December, the EU decided to extend them by another six months.
“It is to be hoped that our attitude in the past will create a good business climate in this area after the sanctions are lifted,” Zeman said.
It was mainly thanks to Zeman´s rhetoric that the Czech Republic was not perceived as an unambiguous supporter of a hard stance on Moscow.
Zeman said he does not think that Russia’s current economic problems are caused by the sanctions, but by the dropping price of oil, which is the country’s major exports item.
This year, Zeman is to tour Latin America.
