Prague - Vietnamese vendors in the Czech border region might be a welcome fixture for many thrift-minded shoppers passing through, but they are a real nuisance as far as manufacturers in the neighboring Bavaria are concerned.
Especially sports equipment producers are losing millions of euro every year because of cheap fakes made in China and sold here at hard-to-beat prices.
Last Friday, Bavarian "Super-Minister" Emilia Müller responsible for industry, infrastructure, transport and technologies in the biggest German state complained about this in Prague.
Not just a T-shirt problem
"We agreed with Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek that we want a tougher approach toward the vendors, and a coordinated one," the Bavarian Minister added.
It is not just the global brands, who stand to lose with the sale of counterfeit goods, but also the manufacturers in Germany who find it difficult, if not impossible to compete with the nuisance rivals. It is estimated that Germany loses 70,000 jobs a year because of this.
The Bavarian Minister also brought up the issue of nuclear power with Prime Minister Topolánek as Bavaria is considering postponing the deadline for closing down German nuclear power plants, originally set for 2020 by the previous government, and currently being questioned by the cabinet of Angela Merkel.
The Czech party allegedly "accepted this warmly". Bavaria has the single largest number of working reactors in Germany and they also belong tto the country's oldest.
Karlovy Vary: Where East meets West
Mr. Topolánek and Ms. Müller discussed the possiblity of extending the Frankfurt-Hof airline to Karlovy Vary, which, as the Bavarian minister pointed out, could open the Western Bohemia spa town to visitor from the West, not just the East.
Karlovy Vary has a large Russian community, both short-time visitors and permanent residents. Its mineral water-based treatments and curing procedures combined with the splendid natural setting of the town have also been winning increasing numbers of visitors from the Arab world.
