Prague, June 26 (CTK) – Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, who arrived in Prague by train to pay his first official visit to Czech Republic, discussed bilateral cooperation and transport infrastructure with Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka today, government spokesman Martin Ayrer has told CTK.
Presidential Office Protocol Department Miroslav Sklenar and the Prague Castle Guard’s unit welcomed Van der Bellen at the Main Railway Station.
Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) met Van der Bellen in the presidential lounge at the station).
Van der Bellen will talk to his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman on Tuesday.
Van der Bellen travelled by a regular train that arrived in Prague after 17:00 with a few minute delay. After the official welcome, he left for the presidential lounge to meet Sobotka.
They talked about Czech-Austria cooperation in the economy and transport infrastructure. They mentioned a motorway from Brno, the second largest town in the Czech Republic, and Vienna and from Prague to Linz and the modernisation of a railway connection between these cities.
“An important discussion topic was also cooperation in the sphere of education and the project of a Czech-Austrian textbook that should be completed at the end of 2017,” Ayrer said.
Its aim is to present the key events and personalities of the joint history and Czech and Austrian views of them.
At the beginning of the meeting, Sobotka told Van der Bellen that he was glad he could follow up their previous meeting last summer.
Sobotka met Van der Bellen after his victory in the first presidential election the results of which were annulled then. Van der Bellen was definitively elected head of state last December.
Van der Bellen will meet Zeman, who openly supported his rival candidate Norbert Hofer from the populist Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) before the election, on Tuesday.
Zeman will receive him at Prague Castle, the presidential seat, with all traditional military honours. They will give a press conference after their talks.
Van der Bellen will also attend a business forum on Tuesday afternoon, but Zeman will not take part in it.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said both presidents might discuss economic relations, border cooperation, education, science, culture and transport infrastructure. They might also touch upon commemorative events in 2018, he added.
Next year, the Czech Republic will mark the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia, established in 1918 after the split of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the 50th anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion in 1968.
As far as foreign issues are concerned, both presidents will probably debate Brexit, the EU future and the fight against terrorism, Ovcacek said.
Most statesmen fly to official visits.
However, Van der Bellen’s predecessor Heinz Fischer arrived in Prague by train last spring as well. Apart from them, only Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj chose this means of transport to Prague in 2015.
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