Ladies and gentlemen

 

We are here tonight to celebrate our friendship and partnership of 2014. I would like to wholeheartedly thank all of you for your support.

 

I would also like to tell you a little story. Before I came to China I served in Toronto, Canada. One hot summer day I had lunch with a friend of mine - a friend who immigrated to Canada from Italy right after Second World War.

 

He told me about his teenage years in 1950s in Canada: “it is hard to believe today, but when I said to anybody at that time that I was born in Italy, they would frown upon me and say only two words: MAFIA and MUSSOLINI. To get by, I would often pretend that I am a Frenchman. I could not even take my girlfriend for a date to an Italian restaurant, because Italian cuisine was considered poor’s man diet...And there were no Italian restaurants in Toronto anyhow”.

 

Well, ladies and gentlemen,

 

in 2014, Italy is no longer associated with Fascism and Mafia. Vice versa - Italy became strong brand name – Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini are pinnacle of the auto industry. Gucci, Armani, Versace set the tone in fashion industry. And pizza and pasta became so popular, that even in Shanghai, 10 000 km far away from Rome, you can hardly find a street without some Italian eatery.

 

Why am I telling you all this, you may think. Who cares about Italy, we are at the Czech party. Yes we are. I am just trying to draw a parallel. When I say Czech Republic, to many people around the world – be it Chinese, American, even Europeans – not much comes to their mind – no negative, no positive, just nothing.

 

That is already a better starting position than Italy had 50 years ago. Much better starting position. And it will get only better, because, as in Italy, also in Czech Republic, there are thousands of skilful engineers and designers, brainy inventors and world class entrepreneurs.

 

I have a dream, that in 2030, if you stop a Chinese student on the street of Shanghai and ask him what comes to his mind when I say Czech Republic, he would immediately react by naming SKODA, as one of the best cars in the world, Budweiser and Bernard, as one of the best beers in the world, and Lasvit and Preciosa as the best crystal and glass producers. And he would tell me how beautiful and romantic was Prague last time he traveled there with his girlfriend.

 

For my dream to become reality we do not need to create the products – they are already here. The path for the Czech Republic becoming the same brand name as Italy is simple – marketing, marketing and more marketing.

 

I plan to do a lot of marketing for the Czech Republic in 2015. In fact, I have started already – look outside, across the river….

 

And let me conclude by saying, that we have ambitious plans for 2015. If you are able and willing to help us next year, please talk to me. Thank you.