On a visit to the Papcel Litovel factory in the Olomouc region, President
Miloš Zeman expressed the view that human right issues should not be
allowed to stand in the way of business and trade. He said the country’s
business interests were sometimes hurt by what he called an excessive
emphasis on human rights on the part of Czech leaders, citing the cancelled
visit by the president of Uzbekistan as an example. Mr. Zeman said this was
a self-defeating policy, noting that since the Ubzbek head of state was not
going to visit the country it would not be possible to bring up the issue
of human rights face to face. At the same time, the Czech Republic was
losing investment opportunities and risking business already underway in
the country, the president noted. The Papcel Litovel factory has an eight
million dollar investment in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek president recently
cancelled his visit to the Czech Republic after the prime minister and the
mayor of Prague said they were not willing to meet with him.