Czechs to help Iraq establish interior ministry

The Czech Republic is to assist Iraq in establishing its interior ministry and fire brigade. The Czech Interior Minister Stanislav Gross, who has just ended a working visit to Baghdad, said the Iraqi authorities had requested this assistance from Prague since the Czech Republic had experience in undergoing a transformation from a totalitarian regime to a democracy. Czech experts will thus not only be involved in the process of training policemen and investigators but will advise Iraq on structural changes at the ministry. Members of the Czech military police are already training future Iraqi policemen in Basra.