Czech foreign minister visiting Vatican

The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Jan Kohout, met with his Vatican counterpart, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, on Wednesday. Mr. Kohout visited the Vatican to mark the 20th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Prague and the Holy See. Both praised relations between the two countries and agreed on implementing a work group to accelerate the ratification of a treaty defining the framework of relations between the Czech state and the Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic churches. The document, which does not cover the restitution of church property seized during the communist era, was agreed in 1999, though Czech MPs refused to ratify it four years later.