The meeting was opened by Igor Kottman, the president of the AmCham Board of Directors, who highlighted the past cooperation with the Prime Minister, noting that the Prime Minister met with the AmCham Board of the Directors twice during his first term in the office.
Igor Kottman emphasized AmCham’s willingness to cooperate and share expertise and experience with the government. He then mentioned some positive areas of cooperation such as business-academic cooperation and the AmCham FDI Strategy.
However, he also had to voice the concerns of our members regarding some key issues such as the consolidation package. Mr Kottman also mentioned the challenges resulting from the amendment of the Labor Code as well as the amendment of the Public Procurement Act. He stressed the need for predictable legal environment also with regards to energy and environmental policies. Finally, he touched upon involvement in the area of EU Affairs, especially focusing on data protection and intellectual property rights.
The Prime Minister mostly focused on the positive aspects of cooperation, asking AmCham to assist the government in issues concerning tax evasion and fraud as well as public procurement. He also indicated his willingness to meet with our Board of Directors on a regular basis, and he supported the idea of the Amcham upcoming conference Slovakia 2013: Business-Government Dialogue, which is being organized together with Forbes Magazine on 13 November 2012.
Source: Amcham Slovakia