Czech ambassador meets with City Council

BANGOR – Kenneth Hillas, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, believes there might be some things that Maine and the Czech Republic could do for each other.

The diplomat, a 1976 University of Maine graduate, gave one striking example Wednesday afternoon at a City Council workshop.

As a lobster eater, Hillas said he couldn’t help but remember seeing a lonely, live North Atlantic crustacean for sale in a restaurant in central Europe several years ago.

It was priced at $200 a pound.

“There’s got to be a business to be had at those price differences,” he said, jokingly. “Eastern Europeans love seafood. If you can be competitive with northern European firms, I say, sure.”

Attendees of the workshop seemed to appreciate the diplomat’s Maine connections and down-to-earth ways.

Hillas was visiting Maine to help his mother close down her camp in the town of Penobscot, and he took Wednesday off to do a public outreach jaunt at the University of Maine, where he gave a lecture on the European Union, and in Bangor.

Between chores and doing the circuit, Hillas said he did find time to enjoy some lobster from the Northern Bay market there – at a fraction of the price it would have cost him in Central Europe.

Despite the high price of lobster, Hillas said that he is very pleased with his posting in Prague, which he has held since 2002.

“It’s the best job I ever had,” he said. “It’s an incredibly beautiful city.”

The city councilors and other workshop attendees asked Hillas about the economy of Prague.

“In Eastern and Central Europe, they’re doing, actually, quite well,” he said. “U.S. development in central Europe is really booming. It’s going like gangbusters right now.”

He said that the Czech Republic has strong sectors in informational technology, manufacturing, and engineering. The country also boasts some underdeveloped, heavily forested areas.

According to Hillas, Maine possibly could make a pulp and paper industry connection with the Czech Republic.

Hillas also spoke about the benefits of adding more sister cities. Bangor’s only official such city is Saint John, New Brunswick.

“I think it’s a great program,” he said. “In terms of establishing business contacts, sharing best practices, it’s a huge bang for the buck. And you really can do it without much expense at all.”

Hillas said he did not believe that U.S. foreign policy in the Czech Republic would change much if John Kerry ousts President George Bush in November.

“It drives Europeans nuts to figure out American foreign policy this time of year,” he said. “We tell them to turn off their television sets.”

Mayor Daniel Tremble said he could see the sense in that.

“It’s not bad advice for Americans, either,” Tremble said.