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Czech Officials Visit Shreveport And Barksdale AFB

Courtesy: City of Ostrava - Facebook

CZECH SISTER CITY -For the past several years, members of Barksdale’s 2nd and 307th Bombwings  have attended a NATO Air Show in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, and through that, a  "Sister City" relationship has been formed.  Yesterday, Shreveport’s Chamber of Commerce held a breakfast  welcoming visitors from the Czech Republic; the Deputy Mayor from Ostravow, Ms. Andrea Hoffmannova shared some of her first impressions.

"I can see we have very many things similar," Hoffmannova said. "For us it's very important to have a sister city like this because we share many things and I hope we can cooperate further in many potential fields like business but also education, culture, sports.  I could see many, many similar things."

Credit Courtesy: P. Savage - Shreveport Chamber of Commerce
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Courtesy: P. Savage - Shreveport Chamber of Commerce
Andrea Hoffmannova (center-left) receives the official city of Shreveport flag from Tim Magner (center-right) President of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce during a visit to NW La. (06/24/19)

Last year Tim Magner, president of the Shreveport Chamber was the first civic visitor at  the NATO DAYS Air Show in the Eastern Czech Republic, as he accompanied visiting members of the  307th Bombwing stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base. Magner feels the relationship between the two cities offers many possibilities.

"We live in a global economy, our ability to build upon that connection through pen-pals, through connecting our schools, maybe connecting our business, maybe connection our chambers."Magner explained. "I did have a chance to meet with several businesses while I was over there, they are interested in technology, they are interested in advanced manufacturing. So I think there's some commonalities, and some ideas that we could build on."

The Czech delegation  also visited Barksdale Air Force Base, they  toured  the  flightline  to see B-52’s up close and the base museum.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.