The State Visit of the President of the Czech Republic H

The State Visit of the President of the Czech Republic H

State Visit of the President of the CzechRepublic H.E. Mr. Václav Klaus
and Mrs. Livia Klausová to the Hellenic Republic
(2 - 23 November 2006)

The President of the Czech Republic H.E. Mr. Václav Klaus accompanied by his spouse Livia and the official delegation, including First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Tomáš Pojar, paid the first, historic state visit of the highest representative of the CzechRepublic to the HellenicRepublic on 22 and 23 November 2006.

After the arrival he met the host, President Karolos Papoulias, in the Presidential Palace and they discussed bilateral relations and European issues. After the meeting the Agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism was signed in the presence of both Presidents. The Agreement was signed on behalf of the Greek Government by H.E. Mrs Fanni Palli-Petralia, the Minister of Tourism, and on behalf of the Czech Government by H.E. Ms. Hana Mottlová, Ambassador of the CzechRepublic to Greece. The State Dinner hosted by President Papoulias in honour of President Klaus and Mrs Klausová was held on the first evening. More than a hundred distinguished guests from the fields of politics, economics, academia and culture attended the dinner.

The main program of the state visit included meetings of the President of the Czech Republic with the President of the Hellenic Parliament H.E. Mrs. Anna Benaki-Psarouda, the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic H.E. Mr. Konstantinos Karamanlis and the Minister of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation H.E. Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos. The President of the CzechRepublicalso briefly received the President of PASOK Mr. George Papandreou.

The President V. Klaus received several prestigious awards. At the University of Athens he was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Economics where he gave a lecture on European integration. At the City Hall of Athens Mr. Theodoros Bechrakis presented him the Gold Medal of Merit of the City of Athens on behalf of the Athens City Council. The President of the Hellenic Parliament H.E. Mrs. Anna Benaki-Psarouda presented him the Gold Medal of the Hellenic Parliament.

During the twodays the President visited also the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he greeted more than two hundred participants of the conference on Czech-Greek economic relations, among them the members of the individual business mission from the CzechRepublic. At the prestigious Elevtheroudakis bookstore the President Klaus was signing his book “On the Road to Democracy”, which was published in Greek by the Kastaniotis Publishing House.

The last event before the farewell at the airport, which was done on behalf of the Greek Government by the Minister of Agriculture H.E. Mr. Evangelos Basiakos, was the reception at the Embassy of the Czech Republic which honoured with their presence the Presidents of the Czech Republic and of the Hellenic Republic, Mrs Klausová and members of both official delegations, along with three hundred guests.