Prague, July 4 (CTK) – U.S. Independence Day is an important holiday for all people in the world who share values such as freedom and justice, Czech President Milos Zeman wrote in a congratulatory telegram he has sent to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The text of the telegram was released by the Presidential Office on Tuesday.
In the previous four years, the Presidential Office did not issue any press release on Zeman having sent similar congratulations to Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek did not answer CTK’s question whether Zeman congratulated Obama in the past.
In his telegram, Zeman praises Obama’s activities at the head of the United States since he assumed the office in January.
Zeman wrote that he believes half a year since Trump’s inauguration that the leading position of the United States in the world and Trump’s resolve to fight terrorism anywhere on Earth have found many followers the world over.
Zeman wrote that he admires Obama’s firm and admirable stance.
Zeman wrote that together with the United States in NATO as well as outside the Alliance, the Czech Republic is still resolved to support the shared values, including freedom, religious toleration and democracy, to help free the world of the evil of terrorism and to create a better and safer planet.
Before last year’s presidential election in the United States, Zeman said he would like to see Trump, not Democrat Hillary Clinton whose was the election favourite, to be elected.
Zeman praised Trump’s negative stance on immigration and his hard words about radical Islam.
Last December, still before Trump was inaugurated, the Presidential Office said Trump invited Zeman to a visit to the White House. According to the office, the meeting was to take place in April.
Later, Czech ambassador to the United States Hynek Kmonicek said the meeting has been postponed because of the North Korean crisis and that another date this year is being sought.
In June, Zeman told journalists that he received a letter from Trump, in which the U.S. president apologises for an adjournment of the meeting. Zeman said there is no reason why he should release the letter.
