Press Advisories

8. 3. 2019 20:01

Prime minister Babiš visited the White House and discussed energy and cyber security, customs and Syria with president Trump

Prime Minister Babiš and his wife Monika with the American presidential couple, 7 March 2019.
Prime Minister Babiš and his wife Monika with the American presidential couple, 7 March 2019.
Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš had a meeting with American president Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday 7 March 2019. They discussed a range of topics including security, mutual trade and collaboration in science and research.

American president Donald Trump and his wife Melanie greeted prime minister Babiš and his wife Monika traditionally at the south front of the White House and both politicians and their wives then walked to the Oval Office to have an informal discussion about private topics. This was followed by a short one-to-one meeting of the two politicians, who then moved with their delegations to the meeting room for bilateral negotiations. The primary topics were defence and security, including energy and cybernetic security, mutual trade and collaboration in science and research. Both politicians also touched on the sensitive issue of the American plan to impose customs on goods from the EU. They also discussed power generation, cyber security and the Middle East. “Syria was also a major item on the agenda. I told president Trump that it was vital that the refugee problem should be resolved by us, those who have our say in it and are close to the Middle East. There are six million people who are waiting to get back home,” said prime minister.
 

“Today is a very important day for the Czech Republic. I had the opportunity to speak freely with Donald Trump, president of the United States of America. It is symbolic that the visit is held today, on the birthday anniversary of our first president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk,” said prime minister Babiš after the meeting and pointed out the United States had played a major role in the formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and American democracy had been a great model for the founders of our state. “Since then the United States have been our ally. Now we are allies in NATO. We are commemorating the 20th anniversary of our joining NATO, which is a guarantee of security and a very important organisation. Our troops fight along American troops against international terrorism,” Babiš assured president Trump that the Czech Republic was and would be a reliable ally to the USA in NATO also in fighting international terrorism. “It is evident that in 2015 our country adopted a clear approach of meeting our commitments. Our Ministry of Defence is changing the procurement system, which will now be also taking account of our commitments in NATO,” added Andrej Babiš.
 

The meeting closed with adopting a joint statement of president of the United States of America and prime minister of the Czech Republic:https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/joint-statement-president-united-states-donald-j-trump-prime-minister-czech-republic-andrej-babis/.
 

Andrej Babiš started Thursday of his programme in the USA by a business breakfast with American investors. The topics discussed included the Czech schooling system, bureaucratic barriers in business and the efficiency of Czech authorities. “I talked about our investment plan, PPP projects, the expected building code recodification, schooling system reform as well as the mobile data charges in the Czech Republic, which are among those most expensive in Europe. I talked about our plan to hold a tender for a fourth operator and our need to have a strong partner independent of the roaming networks of the existing operators,” said prime minister. Prime minister also wishes to hold a meeting with American manufacturers of modern medical technology. “We want our people to have access to the latest medical technology,” added Babiš.
 

Prime minister Babiš then paid tribute to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, at his memorial in the eve of Masaryk’s birthday anniversary.

The Thursday’s programme was crowned with a gala dinner held by Hynek Kmoníček, the ambassador plenipotentiary to the USA.

Andrej Babiš’s speech for the official visit to the White House is available on/en/clenove-vlady/premier/speeches/speech-by-prime-minister-andrej-babis-on-the-ocasion-of-the-official-visit-to-the-white-house--172297/.

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