REGION

Developing Cultural and Economic

Relations with Ostrava

Mr Stephen King, the Ambassador of the USA in the Czech Republic, grew up in Chicago,

Illinois, and earned an M.A. and B.S. at Western Illinois University. He is a  significant public

office-holder and entrepreneur who built and sold a  specialty chemical manufacturing business,

and founded a  family investment business. Stephen B. King was confirmed by the Senate

on October 5, 2017 as the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic. He is married to Karen Ruyle. They

have three grown children and seven grandchildren.

What is the purpose of creating a cultural

center in here in the library in Ostrava?

First and foremost is to create an American

presence in this part of the country which

I think has been sadly absent for too long.

Ostrava is very important as Ostrava is

the third largest city in the country with

a great industrial legacy. I have been here

a couple times for events, NATO days

and other such events, but shortly after

I arrived as Ambassador, I asked where

we have a presence outside the capital

Prague - Brno, Plzen. – So what about

Ostrava? We need to be there, so we were

researching and we found this wonderful

venue here. So first and foremost, we’re

here because Ostrava matters.

Second, I think it‘s to improve the growth

of our cultural relationship between

countries.

We are looking forward

to taking on a number of different

cultural aspects to this venue here and

participating more in the city, ideally in

partnership with Ostrava’s American

sister cities of Pittsburgh and Shreveport.

And third, and in my opinion maybe most

important, is our business relationships.

I‘d like to think my legacy here as

ambassador is going to be primarily

about growing the economic relationship

between our countries. A number of U.S.

firms are already investing here, and we’d

like to expand on that.

How do you perceive the presence of US

companies here in the Ostrava region?

There‘s an excellent presence here,

outside of Prague and Brno - where

many American companies are focused.

You have this great industrial history

here. Now I recognize that Mr. Babis

and Mr. Havlicek are looking to move

into a direction of innovation and that‘s

fine. That‘s the way world is moving, and

Brno is doing a nice job with that, Prague

as well, but this region has a large heavy

industry tradition here to build on. I was

talking to the mayor just a few moments

ago, and he was talking about the fact

that the University of Ostrava is moving

in the direction of more innovation and

technology. The things you are doing

here are going to help Ostrava catch up,

and I want to help. I keep telling people,

80% of the Czech population lives

outside of Prague. We are supposed to

engage with the government, and the

government is in Prague, but 80% of the

action is outside, so get outside, talk to

these cities like Ostrava and the regions

because that‘s where the opportunities

probably lie - more because of the

great work ethic, the industrial history,

the Czech golden hands, they are often

outside of Prague.

What do you think about Czech

companies investing in the US.

I keep telling Czech investors or Czech

business people - , if you are not investing

in the US, but simply shipping your

product, you are missing opportunities.

This is the largest market in the world, it‘s

safe and the economy is growing 2-3%

per year. You should be there. If you‘ve

got a good product, you need to be in the

United States and they are hearing that

message.

Thank you for the interview.

Americké kulturní centrum v Knihovně města Ostravy

POSITIV 4/2019 ǀ 45