Prime Minister Zeman visits London
Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Foreign Minister Jan Kavan paid a one-day official visit to London on Wednesday. The main item on their agenda was talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, mainly to discuss preparations for the Czech Republic's membership of the European Union. Olga Szantova reports:
From the Czech point of view, probably the most important outcome of the official visit was Mr. Blair's reassurance of British backing for Czech EU membership. He told reporters: "I want to reaffirm my strong commitment for the Czech Republic in the enlargement process. We want the countries that are ready to be in as soon as possible." Premier Blair had stressed that stand at a conference in Warsaw last week, a fact highly appreciated by his Czech counterpart, Milos Zeman: The discussions involved possible cooperation in energy, telecommunications, the banking sector and the defense industry.
This was Prime Minister Zeman's first official visit to Britain since he took up office in July 1998. But contacts between the two governments, and their top representatives have been close, as Milos Zeman stressed
