Zbyněk Pokorný became the new Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the State Investment and Development Company

Prague, 30 October - The State Investment and Development Company (SIRS) has a new Chairman of the Board and CEO. On October 1st, Zbyněk Pokorný took up the position and his main goal in his new role is to create exclusive initial conditions for attracting strategic investments to the Czech Republic. At the same time, he wants to support the related creation of opportunities for private development and build a state-owned company along the lines of many Western European countries.

A few months after its establishment, the State Investment and Development Company has its Chairman of the Board and CEO. He is Zbyněk Pokorný, who moved to SIRS from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, where he was in charge of legislation in the field of investment incentives and financing of industrial zone construction projects.

It is this experience that he will put to good use in his new position. SIRS, as a newly established state company, whose 100% shareholder is the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, has the objective to comprehensively prepare areas for strategic investors. From their acquisition, screening and registration, through the permitting process to the construction of the necessary technical and transport infrastructure.

"The Czech Republic lacks a conceptual national approach to the development of strategic areas and a sufficiently agile apparatus that is able to prepare these areas according to the assignment. That is why SIRS was created to look for ways to help the state become better and more efficient in this area. I know from my own experience what such projects encounter. From their inception on paper, to their final implementation and handover to end users. I believe that in my new role I will help SIRS to avoid as many obstacles as possible on this challenging journey that inevitably awaits us, " says Zbyněk Pokorný.

The arrival of Zbyněk Pokorný is also appreciated by Petr Doškář, Chief Director of the Economic Section of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic. "As a representative of the sole shareholder of SIRS, I am glad that a few months after the company's establishment we have a complete and strong management team in charge.Zbyněk Pokorný complements the current members of the Board of Directors, Petr Križan and David Petr, in a very appropriate way.He comes to the company with extensive experience in the topics of financing and strategic project development, which are exactly the agendas that SIRS is designed to help the state address.I am confident that together with the rest of the team they will fulfil the objectives set for SIRS and through their activities will ensure appropriate conditions for the localisation of strategic and difference projects.Our economy needs these in the framework of the ongoing transformation and therefore they are part of the new economic strategy, part of which SIRS will help to fulfil through its work," says Doškář.

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Zbyněk Pokorný graduated from the University of Economics in Prague in Finance and Accounting. Previously, he worked as an investment manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he provided services to global investors considering expansion into the Czech Republic.

He spent a significant part of his career at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, where he held the position of Director for 12 years and was responsible for legislation in the field of investment incentives, simplification of legislation related to the preparation and implementation of investments and construction, financing of projects for the construction of industrial zones or revitalization of brownfields and was responsible for overseeing their effective management and use. He was involved, for example, in the expansion of Onsemi in the Czech Republic or in negotiations with giants Microsoft and Volkswagen in the Czech Republic.