Prague, Dec 21 (CTK) – Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka plans to visit Turkey next year, while the longest foreign trip of President Milos Zeman is to take him to Latin America, government spokesman Martin Ayrer and Presidential Office foreign section head Hynek Kmonicek have told CTK.
Visitors to Prague in 2016 will include Chinese President Xi Jinping and the British and Israeli prime ministers, David Cameron and Benjamin Netanyahu, respectively.
Zeman should go to Latin America, in particular to Mexico and Colombia, possibly even to Costa Rica in summer, Kmonicek said, adding that it would depend on whether the trip would also include a visit to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Presidential Office also plans Zeman´s visit to Macedonia and Armenia in 2016.
Moreover, his journeys to some Nordic countries are being discussed, Kmonicek added.
He told CTK in early November that he would like to devote his time primarily to the visits of foreign statesmen next year since the number of countries that the Czech president visited in the past is higher than the number of those whose supreme representatives paid a visit to the Czech Republic.
The heads of state should always take turns in the visits to observe the reciprocity principle.
Xi Jinping is to visit Prague in the spring of 2016, followed by his Slovenian and Austrian counterparts.
“We are looking for a date for a visit by the Egyptian president that would suit both sides. The Indian president has been invited, but his visit depends on the extent of the agenda that is being created since India had not had an ambassador to the Czech Republic for long, but now it has one,” Kmonicek said.
The King of Morocco has received an “open invitation” and Prague expects him to use the opportunity this year, he added.
Along with a visit to Turkey, Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) intends to go to Bavaria and attend intergovernmental consultations in Poland, a joint meeting of the Czech and Slovak governments in Slovakia, a summit on nuclear security in Washington and the Local Leaders Forum to be held within the 16+1 group in China, Ayrer said.
Out of foreign statesmen to visit the Czech Republic in 2016, Netanyahu will arrive in the spring to attend the fourth Czech-Israeli intergovernmental consultations. Cameron and Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili are to visit Prague, too.
In addition, the current Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, plans a visit to the Czech Republic.
“The final summit of the Czech presidency of the Visegrad Four (V4) will be held in Prague in June,” Ayrer added.
The other V4 member countries are Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
hol/dr/ms
