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Central Europe
July 12, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
Huawei pledges up to €705mn in Polish investments
Wojciech Kosc in Warsaw
Chinese tech giant Huawei said on July 8 it would invest up to PLN3bn (€705mn) in Poland in the coming five years although the precise value
of the investment plan would depend on the company’s taking part in the development of
5G that the Polish authorities plan.
The pledge appears to have come to ease the ten- sion between Huawei and the Polish government after an employee of the company and a former Polish security official were arrested earlier this year on espionage charges.
Warsaw said in reaction it could bar Huawei
from taking part in getting the 5G network communication standard up and running in Poland. Polish mobile operator Play is about to kick off testing of 5G in the city of Torun. Play will reportedly use Huawei's equipment.
Poland is also wary of the Chinese company’s products and services following the US’ warning they could be a security risk.
“In the next five years, we plan to spend almost PLN3bn in Poland through purchases,” Ryszard Hordynski, Huawei’s senior director for strategy and communications, told Reuters.
Czech state energy company CEZ confirms it will pay for new Dukovany and Temelin nuclear power plants
Nelly Tomchikova in Prague
The Czech government has approved a plan for the construction of new units of the Dukovany and Temelin nuclear power plants by subsidiaries of the state-owned energy company CEZ Group, the Czech News Agency (CNA) confirmed on July 8.
CEZ subsidiaries will be the investors, and the government will provide a guarantee allowing the companies to receive the best-possible inter- est rate for bank credit. If the project becomes economically unfeasible, CEZ could turn the reactors over to the state, which will cover
any losses.
"Both subsidiaries – EDU II and ETE II – were founded three years ago to take over the development of new nuclear resources,” a CEZ spokesman said, adding that "the first meeting was held a week ago, so let’s see how it will continue, however we believe that a framework agreement should be ready by this autumn.”
"Due to the price of the nuclear plant and all other risks, it is clear that any new block will never be built by CEZ on the current shareholder plan, but almost certainly by a 100% state company," said CEZ minor- ity shareholder Michal Snobr, as quoted by CNA.