Seminar on economic transformation with a Czech expert in Sri Lanka met with a great response

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi organised a two-day seminar with a renowned expert from the Czech Republic as a response to the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The seminar was led by Mr. Miroslav Zamecnik, a Czech economist with extensive experience in the public and private sector. Zamecnik previously served as a member of the National Economic Council of the Czech Government, where he worked on fiscal policy and anti-crisis measures. In the 1990s, he held the position of Head of the Centre for Economic Analysis in the office of President Vaclav Havel.

The idea for the seminar arose from a conversation between Czech Ambassador H. E. Eliska Zigova and President of Sri Lanka H. E. Ranil Wickremensinghe in Sri Lanka in February 2023. President of Sri Lanka expressed interest in deepening cooperation between Sri Lanka and the Czech Republic in the economic field. Furthermore, he was impressed by the story of the Czech Republic as a country that successfully transformed its economy from a centrally planned economy to a open market economy with high competitiveness.

The objective of the seminar was to share the Czech Republic's transformation experience and economic and monetary policy adjustments from the 1990s while reflecting on current political and economic developments in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is going through most severe economic crisis in its modern history and a series of unpopular reforms have to be made. During the two-day seminar, Mr. Miroslav Zamecnik provided eighty participants with unique historical context of the economic transformation of the Czech Republic, and also with his practical experience on restructuring of state-owned companies to private ones.

The seminar was introduced by K. M. Mahinda Siriwardana, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Sri Lanka, who thanked the Czech Republic for organizing the seminar. Information about the seminar appeared in a few Sri Lankan media in both English and Sinhalese. The project was implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.