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The first tram bearing the Škoda logo but manufactured at a plant in Otanmäki has been rolled out in Finland, news website iDnes reported Monday. The tram, called the Artic, was not developed by Škoda but by Transtech, in which Škoda Transportation bought a controlling stake just three months ago.

All roads lead to Beijing, that is at least the impression given by top Czech politicians in the recent past. Hard on the heels of head of state Miloš Zeman’s trip in September, Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka is now in the throes of an almost week long trip to China with boosting business one of the main targets of the trip.

If an appeal against an arbitration ruling under which Czech Railways must pay CZK 1.2 billion to Škoda Transportation proves unsuccessful the price of train tickets in the Czech Republic could go up, the Minister of Transport, Dan Ťok, has warned.

People travelling along the new stretch of Prague metro’s A line will no longer have to restrict their phone conversations to individual stations. Three mobile phone operators have signed a contract with the Prague transport authority on providing a signal along the whole stretch of the newly opened line from Bořislavka to Motol Hospital.

For the first time ever, the value of Czech crowns in circulation has exceeded 500 billion crowns. The figure was reached on Friday, the Czech National Bank revealed. The amount translates into more than two billion individual banknotes and coins. At some point though the country is slated to join the Eurozone, giving up the crown for the euro – the only question is when.

The lower house of Parliament has agreed to raise taxes on gambling from the current 20 percent to 28 percent. According to news website iDnes, among the most affected will be venues offering gambling machines such as video lottery terminals. Under the ruling coalition proposal, tax on lotteries and betting agencies will also increase, to 23 percent.

The Czech magnate and finance minister Andrej Babiš is set to invest around CZK 1 billion in food companies in Poland, despite the fact that he has had bad experiences doing business with Poles in the past, Hospodářské noviny reported on Thursday.

The Czech competition watchdog, the Office for Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), in a three line statement on November 6 announced that it had taken initial steps to impose a 2.036 billion crown fine on a cartel of construction companies.

A continued squeeze on electricity prices and problems with its Dukovany and Temelín nuclear power plants have hit the Czech Republic’s biggest electricity company.

With the ending of current sanctions expected to come as soon as the start of next year, Iran is now the target for trade delegations and missions from around the world. The Czech Republic is no exception and, after a ground breaking visit by the foreign minister, is now looking at the practical steps needed to exploit the opportunities when full two way trade resumes.