Slovakia Eyes Partnership With India In Green Hydrogen, Water Management

Slovakia is keen to partner with India in green hydrogen, research and development (R&D), heavy engineering, wastewater treatment, cyber security and other areas, said Robert Maxian, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to India.  In February of this year, a delegation of 20 Slovak companies, led by the Slovak foreign minister, visited India.

“Slovakia is a small country with a big heart. More than 85 per cent of our foreign trade is within the EU. But in the last one year, many Slovak companies have shown interest in trading and investing in India," Maxian said at an interactive meeting organised by WTC Mumbai and the All India Association of Industries (AIAI).

Notably, Slovak companies have invested in biofuel, railway bogey manufacturing, cyber security, metallurgy and other sectors in recent years. Slovak company Tatravagonka a.s., Poprad has invested Rs. 2,500 crore in Odisha on a railway bogey manufacturing plant in association with a local partner. Similarly, Envien International has invested in a biofuel plant in Uttar Pradesh recently.

In the area of green hydrogen, the Ambassador mentioned, “Slovakia has successfully tested use of hydrogen, especially green hydrogen in heavy vehicles such as buses. We have two Hydrogen Transport Hubs in Slovakia. We have done feasibility studies on green hydrogen in vehicles in Georgia and Albania and we want to partner with India in this technology.”

The Ambassador mentioned that in the last five years, two-way trade has doubled to Euro 861 million (2023) and he aims to grow this to Euro 1 billion this year. He expressed keen interest in promoting collaboration in film production as Slovakia offers a cash rebate of 30 per cent on investments made in film production in his country.

Maxian expressed interest in expanding the presence of Slovakian companies in Maharashtra in areas such as weather forecasting technologies, cyber security, waste water management, metallurgy and so on.

He said, “Slovak company Micro Step is working with the Indian Metrological Department on weather monitoring & forecasting technology. We are also working with Central Water and Power Research Institute, Pune on water management. Maharashtra has huge water resources and dams and water management is a priority for Maharashtra. Our companies have technologies in biological treatment, and wastewater management and these technologies are known for reliability, effectiveness, scalability and modularity. We have sold our water treatment technologies to more than 200 plants in China.”

The Ambassador also hinted at potential collaboration in defence manufacturing, automobile and engineering sectors. Slovak companies are already helping Indian defence forces in upgrading military equipment in Ahmednagar. Slovak companies are also offering cyber security solutions, secure communications and data management solutions to the police department in West Bengal based on Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technologies.

Other areas of collaboration are unmanned aerial vehicles, aerospace, early warning systems for disaster and so on, the Ambassador highlighted. The Ambassador invited Indian companies to invest in Slovakia as it is part of the Schengen Area and Euro Zone and 600 million consumers are within the radius of 2,000 km from Slovakia.

Amit Choksey, Honorary Consul, Honorary Consulate of Slovakia in India pointed out that Slovakia can partner with India in green technologies, heavy engineering and R&D. The ongoing negotiation on a free trade agreement with the EU will give a major boost to our bilateral trade, once it is finalized and implemented.

He further pointed out that Slovakia and India share common values such as the rule of law, democracy and multi-lateral response to global challenges. Choksey remarked that the Ambassador of Slovakia has rich experience in diplomacy and he has built a strong bridge between Indian industry and the Slovak government to promote two-way trade and investment.