Prague - Japan's Deputy Industry Minister Kazuyoshi Akabane visited Prague on Tuesday. The visit was important because Japanese company Toshiba is a majority owner of Westinghouse, one of the two bidders for the multi-billion euro tender to expand the Czech Temelin nuclear plant. The Japanese-American company has reportedly a lead in the tender.
Westinghouse has "indisputable lead" in Temelin tender
While the US government has taken important steps to support Westinghouse's bid over the course of the past two years, and Russia has backed the MIR.1200 consortium controlled by state nuclear agency Rosatom, Japan has shied away from any public lobbying efforts.
This was probably linked to Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant disaster from March 2011, which sparked discussions in the EU and worldwide about the security of nuclear energy.
Akabane's visit ended the period of silence. "It is the first high-profile visit from Japan in this regard. We also want to know to what degree the Japanese side backs Westinghouse in this bid," a senior official told the Insider daily.
"The purpose of the visit is to strengthen the relations between the Czech Republic and Japan in the economic field. The Czech Republic has an expanding economy and there are many Japanese companies active here. Japan considers the Czech Republic a very important country in terms of direct investment and cooperation in the field of energy, including nuclear energy," said Kana Ochiai from the Japanese embassy to the Czech Republic.
Akabane met with Czech Industry Minister Martin Kuba and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, but there was no press conference or other public relations event.
So far, the US ambassador to the Czech Republic, Norman Eisen, has been the most vocal backer of Westinghouse's bid.
There has been considerable diplomatic activity in relation to the US and Russian bids for the lucrative public contract in the past two years. Czech PM Petr Necas met in Washington with US President Barack Obama in 2011, and at the end of May this year he will visit Moscow.
