European presidents to discuss dialogue with EU

Sixteen Central European presidents will meet from Thursday in the city of Brno to discuss dialogue with the European Union, problems with Russia and security issues. President, Vaclav Klaus, who will be hosting the conference, has said that problems in the regions of Transnistria and Kosovo will be on the agenda of the talks. The deployment of the US anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic could also be raised. The presidents of Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine are due to be present in Brno. The 14th annual summit of Central European presidents has developed from the first event staged in Salzburg, Austria, in 1993, at which only the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany and Austria were represented.