Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, in visit, also aims to improve ties
Published:
18 September 2003 y., Thursday
Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla paced, young soldiers in dress uniform smirked and photographers scrambled for position as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder arrived Sept. 5 for his first state visit to the Czech Republic in almost four years.
It was a symbolic visit from a neighbor and world leader who had canceled his last trip to Prague in disgust. The national anthems were played and the red carpet was rolled out, but behind the pomp and ceremony there was also an agenda.
Schroder's visit was part of a wider whistle-stop tour to lobby small nations such as the Czech Republic for their support of the European Union Constitution. Because the constitution must be ratified by all member states, a no vote in the Czech Republic would effectively kill it, something Schroder is working hard to avoid.
Also on the agenda for Schroder was improving relations between the two countries, a step he said meant getting past the past. Noticeably absent -- perhaps in keeping with the spirit of camaraderie -- was any mention of the war in Iraq, to which the two governments have responded very differently.
Šaltinis:
praguepost.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė congratulated her Italian counterpart, President Giorgio Napolitano, on the Italian national holiday, the Republic Day.
more »
The European Union supports and promotes the region through the Baltic Sea Strategy, specially designed to encourage regional cooperation.
more »
One of the most important topics for Lithuania - efforts to overcome energy isolation of Lithuania and other Baltic States and to strengthen energy security in the Baltic Sea region – is included into the agenda of the Baltic Development Forum (BDF) Summit, which started on 1 June in Vilnius.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė will have a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, in Vilnius.
more »
On 28 May in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis met with ambassadors of NATO countries, who reside in Lithuania.
more »
New British Foreign Secretary William Hague sent a letter to Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs A. Ažubalis, highlighting the determination to continue and to broaden the close working relationship that the UK and Lithuania shares both bilaterally and within the framework of the EU and NATO.
more »
At the meeting of foreign ministers from the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on 25-26 May in Madrid, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Šarūnas Adomavičius invited Southeast Asian countries to contribute to the implementation of projects in the province of Ghor, Afghanistan, where Lithuania leads a Provincial Reconstruction Team.
more »
On 27 May in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis met with prominent figure of the world’s Lithuanian community, scientist and conservationist Dr. Birutė Galdikas.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended congratulations to President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia on national holiday - Republic Day.
more »
Next Tuesday, June 1 at 17.00 hours, President Dalia Grybauskaitė will meet with the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel, who will be in Vilnius on a working visit.
more »