US president sends letter thanking PM, Czechs, for organising recent summit

US President Barack Obama has sent a letter of thanks to Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, for the Czech Republic’s having organised the US-Russia summit on April 8. At the summit, Mr Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed a new landmark treaty in which the US and Russia pledged to slash their nuclear arsenals. In the letter to Jan Fischer, Mr Obama indicated that the signing of the New Start treaty would be remembered in history books; he also stressed that the Czech Republic was a close ally and thanked the country again for its commitment in Afghanistan. Mr Obama spent two days in the Czech capital during the summit - a year after his first official visit. In April 2009, he gave a key speech outside Prague Castle, where he first outlined his administration’s commitment to reducing the nuclear threat.