Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Hüner, how do the today’s new rules of the world trade impact on the market of the EU and the Czech Republic? Is protectionism beneficial for the world economy or taking it one step back?
Tomáš Hüner, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic: Today´s multilateral trading rules are embodied in the set of Agreements under the umbrella of the World Trade Organization. And it is necessary to preserve this system that governs the world trade for many decades. WTO is the cornerstone of this system, therefore we have to secure its functioning and avoid any attempts to undermine it.
Clearly defined rules and respect for them enable us to create trade relations with different partners based on mutual trust. This is crucial in current world that is interconnected in many aspects. Open and free trade is natural part of today´s reality and is essential especially for export oriented countries involved in global value chains like the Czech Republic and also for the EU as a whole.
It is unquestionable that free trade contributes to growth, competiveness and employment. We have to advocate these benefits now more than ever as we are witnessing unprecedented increase in protectionist tendencies around the world. It is logical to protect own interests, but this should be done in appropriate manner within existing trading rules.
Protectionism does not have any positive impacts from a longer perspective. On the contrary, it weakens economic growth and causes economic and social tensions. History knows the best, therefore we should learn from previous mistakes and try not to repeat them.
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