Prague, March 16 (CTK) -Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni will arrive in the Czech Republic for an official visit yesterday, and he is to meet his Czech counterpart Lubomir Zaoralek and PM Bohuslav Sobotka (both Social Democrats, CSSD) on Thursday, the Czech Foreign Ministry has announced.
Besides, Gentiloni will open a business forum, focused on cyber-security and defence, along with Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO).
During political talks in Prague, Gentiloni would like to highlight the migrant crisis and the EU negotiations with Turkey. He wants to touch upon the future of European integration and the current developments in Syria, Iraq and Libya as well.
The Czech Foreign Ministry said Zaoralek and Gentiloni would also deal with the integration of the Western Balkans countries into the EU, the situation in Ukraine and the EU-Russian relations.
Zaoralek said on Monday the Czech Republic would support possible proposals for extending the EU sanctions to apply to the Russians citizens who assist in the persecution of the imprisoned Ukrainian pilot Nadyia Savchenko.
Zaoralek wants to open the issue of economic cooperation at his meeting with Gentiloni.
According to the Foreign Ministry’s data, Italy was the sixth strongest business partner of the Czech Republic last year. The foreign trade turnout was record high and for the first time in history exceeded ten billion euros.
