Press Advisories

11. 11. 200914:26

Prime Minister Fischer meets resident ambassadors of Arab countries

Prime Minister Jan Fischer met the resident ambassadors of Arab countries at an annual working lunch today.

The working lunch was attended by the heads of the embassies of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Autonomous Administration, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia in the Czech Republic. The Prime Minister is thus continuing with the regular meetings with ambassadors by region.

The Prime Minister confirmed the continuity of Czech foreign policy to the whole region and the Czech Republic's long-term interest in developing cooperation with Arab countries in all areas.

Cooperation between the two sides has a strong tradition over many years both thanks to economic and commercial relations, and also contacts at cultural and interpersonal levels. There is great potential for commercial cooperation and both sides agreed that it is in their joint interests to take advantage of this potential as effectively as possible.

The discussions also focused on the current state of the Middle East peace process. The ambassadors of the Arab states welcomed the Prime Minister's emphasis on continuity and the impartiality of Czech foreign policy towards all the sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Other subjects of the meeting included the completion of the ratification process for the Lisbon Treaty in the Czech Republic and the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.