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A delegation from Ostrava will soon be in Cannes to showcase the city as an attractive investment destination. The city is participating for the 21st time at MIPIM – one of the world’s leading investment events. This year’s MIPIM will take place from 13–16 March. Ostrava will feature as part of the joint “Czech Cities” presentation, alongside Prague and Brno; similar joint exhibitions last year in Cannes and Munich proved highly successful.

The prestigious fDi Magazine (published by fDi Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times Group) regularly evaluates the investment environment in cities and regions throughout the world. In the “fDi European Cities and Regions of the Future 2018/2019” rankings, Ostrava was ranked 6th in the category “Top10 fDi strategies”. The gala award ceremony will be held as part of the MIPIM 2018 investment event.

Plans to build a large multimodal logistics centre at the Ostrava-Mošnov Strategic Industrial Zone are near to becoming a reality. Construction work is set to be contracted to Consens Investments, representing the interests of DB Schenker – a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, one of the world’s largest logistics companies. On 18 October Ostrava’s City Assembly approved plans to sell the land to the developer.

In the past three years the City of Ostrava has not taken out any new loans, and it continues to make its scheduled repayments and reduce its overall debt levels. Every year the City audits its expenditure and builds up financial reserves for future investments. Ostrava's prudent financial management has been rewarded by an A1 stable rating from Moody's – the highest rating awarded to any Czech city.

The international rating agency Moody’s has recently awarded Ostrava the highest rating in the City’s history – now increased from A2 positive to A1 stable. The upgrade comes just a year after Moody’s raised Ostrava’s rating from A2 stable to A2 positive.

From 13–15 June 2017 Ostrava will be the venue for the Environment and Health conference organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Over 450 experts from 45 countries will come to Ostrava for this prestigious global event.

The American company Chassix is set to create up to 400 jobs in Ostrava at its new plant producing components for car wheels. The new facility will be located at the Ostrava Business Park in Kunčičky. The total value of the investment is 50 million USD (almost 1.3 billion CZK). Recruitment to key positions will begin in May, and the launch of production is scheduled for the end of this year.

This year is very important to Ostrava - in autumn, it will be the three quarters of a millennium anniversary of the first written mention of the city contained in the last will of Olomouc Bishop Bruno. So despite the fact that the site has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the date 29 November 1267 is considered the symbolic day of the founding of Ostrava.

For the past two decades, Ostrava had been an annual participant at MIPIM, the prestigious global real estate and investment event held in the French city of Cannes. This year, for the first time ever, the city appeared alongside Prague and Brno as part of the joint ‘Czech Cities’ presentation.

Ostrava has hosted many top international sporting events over the years, and in January 2017 it will add another to the list – the European Figure Skating Championships.

Ostrava is a modern hub for shared business services – and the third most popular destination for investors in the Czech Republic. That was the key message presented by Ostrava’s Mayor Tomáš Macura at the ‘Business Services in Ostrava’ meeting held on 23 November at the Nová Karolina Park office complex.

Professional jury together with the public has chosen the best building of the year 2016. From 65 registred projects the most votes received the completion of the Municipal Stadium in Ostrava-Vítkovice. This victory completes Ostrava successful story as last year other two projects - Bolt Tower construction and renovation of buildings in the area of Hlubina Mine in Lower Vítkovice were awarded.

The City of Ostrava attended Expo Real for already the 15^th year in a row. The exhibition stand and program was organized in partnership with Asental, Multi Czech Republic, PRK Partners, CASUA and UBM Bohemia Development. Thanks to the traditional as well as to new co-exhibiting partners the investors obtained an overall view of the entire region and investment opportunities in the area.

This year’s annual investment event EXPO REAL in Munich takes place on 4–6 October. The City of Ostrava is a regular participant at EXPO REAL, and this year is no exception. Ostrava will be represented by the Mayor Tomáš Macura, heading a delegation of the City’s investment specialists. 

In June 2016 the international rating agency Moody’s re-confirmed the City of Ostrava’s existing A2 rating, but raised the City’s outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’.

On 7 and 8 April 2016 Ostrava’s New City Hall hosted a conference entitled “Smart Cities: The Path to Sustainable Urban Development”, featuring delegates from the Visegrad Four (V4) grouping of Central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). The conference included an expert round table discussion. The City of Ostrava issued a Joint Declaration on smart city development alongside the Moravian-Silesian Region and the Town of Třinec.

OSTRAVA TO PRESENT AT MIPIM ITS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR A VARIETY OF INVESTMENT ACTIVITIES. Ostrava´s joint exhibition will be organized in partnership with Arch.Design, CTP, Multi Czech Republic, P3 Logistic Parks, PRK Partners, Red Group, Veolia Energie ČR and also with Association for Foreign Investment (AFI).

A panel of independent experts has named Ostrava as one of the top ten most attractive mid-sized cities in Europe for foreign direct investment. The European Cities and Regions of the Future 2016/2017 rankings were published by the British fDi Magazine on 15 February.

The City of Ostrava is now launching the preparations for its new Strategic Plan covering the period 2017–2023, which will also outline the city's key goals for the following two decades. We have decided to take a different approach than in the past, because we are keen to involve Ostrava's citizens directly in the strategic planning process.

In recent years the Czech Republic has experienced a boom in shared services centres (SSCs). These centres represent an ideal option for modern, dynamic companies seeking to achieve cost savings and improve process efficiency. The core area for SSCs at present is IT, though they also provide accountancy, legal and human resources services.