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Foreign Committee of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in New Zealand

From the 17th to the 21st of November, the long-planned official visit of the Deputy Speaker of the Czech Parliament, Mr Vojtěch Pikal, and the Foreign Committee of the Parliament of the Czech Republic to New Zealand took place.
 

The visit took place almost five years since the last parliamentary visit and had two main goals: revitalising relations between the Czech Republic and New Zealand, and commemorating the Velvet Revolution, both amongst ex-pat associations, as well as presenting the events and their significance to New Zealand officials.

There were many meetings in Wellington as part of the visit. The Working Holiday Program between the Czech Republic and New Zealand, the development of mutual relations, cooperation in the fields of trade and security, migration politics and the issue of recognition of Czech drivers licences were all among the main talking points of the meetings.

Straight away on the first day of their stay, the delegation met with ex-pats in Auckland, with whom they celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. The delegation then had an official dinner with Czech Honorary Consul, Gregory Shanahan and MPs acknowledged his long-term service for our country.

The Czech MPs also fit in a visit to the well-known village Puhoi, founded in 1863 by Czech-German immigrants. To this day the village is called the “Bohemian Village”. The delegation visited the local museum, church and met with the locals – descendants of the settlers who built the village from the ground up.

After arriving in Wellington, the delegation once again commemorated the 30th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution – this time with the Czech community living in Wellington. Following this, there was a key meeting with New Zealand government and parliamentary officials. Czech MPs were officially welcomed in New Zealand Parliament (see video https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=210071). This was followed by a meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament, Trevor Mallard, who appreciated the size of the delegation and stated that the current New Zealand government is trying to intensify relations with European countries and strengthen trade co-operation. He confirmed that the large Czech community in New Zealand is one of the key aspects of bilateral relations.

The official program continued with a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, where New Zealand’s migration politics, a FTA between New Zealand and the EU, and Brexit were discussed.

The delegation also evaluated the situation in the region of South-East Asia and Oceania with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary and First Deputy Leader of the current party in power, NZ First, Fletcher Tabuteau.

The program for New Zealand was concluded by a crucial meeting with the President of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee of New Zealand Parliament, Simon O’Connor.

The delegations successful visit to New Zealand came to an end in Wellington. However their visit then continued on with a transfer to Tasmania so that the delegation could carry on with its further demanding program in Australia.


Members of the delegation of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic:
 

Vojtěch Pikal - Deputy Speaker of Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Head of the Delegation 

Ondřej Veselý - Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

Jaroslav Bžoch - Vice-chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

Marek Benda - Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

Vít Rakušan - Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

Veronika Cihelková - Chief Secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

Jitka Lipenská - International Relations Department  

Zděnek Hofman - Interpreter

 

Galleries


Czech Parliamentary Delegation in New Zealand