US president congratulates Czechs on 91st anniversary

The White House on Friday published a statement issued earlier in the week by US President Barack Obama, congratulating the Czechs on 91 years of statehood. October 28 is a national holiday in the Czech Republic, commemorating the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918. The Czechs and Slovaks then split in 1993. In the brief statement issued on Wednesday, a traditional diplomatic gesture, the US president called the Czech Republic “a close ally and vital partner”, sharing “a history in the struggle for freedom and democracy”. Mr Obama has spoken on other occasions about Czech-US ties, including in a key address in the Czech capital earlier this year, where he outlined the need for a world free of nuclear weapons.