Klaus to join U.S. Cato Institute in spring

Prague, Jan 16 (CTK) - Outgoing Czech President Vaclav Klaus will cooperate with the U.S. conservative think-tank Cato Institute as from March, when his second and last five-year term expires, the Presidential Office announced on Klaus's web page yesterday.

Klaus's successor will emerge from the second round of the direct presidential election on January 25-26.

Klaus's cooperation with the Cato Institute was also mentioned by the double issue of Cato Policy Report at the end of last year.

Klaus attended several conferences organised by the think-tank in the past.

In 2009, he spoke at a Washington conference on the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in central and east Europe.

In 2008, Klaus mentioned the institute among the organisations that share his critical stand on the theories according to which man is behind glogal warming. He dismissed the theories as populist.

Cato Institute, founded in 1974, focuses on free market, freedom and economic policy. It takes critical views of some aspects of President Barack Obama's policy.

It is the sixth most influential research organisation in the United States according to the Global Go To Think Tank standings of 2011.