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Address delivered by the President of the Czech Republic at the official lunch for the Presidents of the USA and the Russian Federation

English Pages, 8. 4. 2010

Presidents, President Medvedev, President Obama, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to welcome you once again most sincerely here at the Prague Castle, at a place which has been a symbol of the Czech statehood for centuries and which has been a scene of many important historical events.

Together with most of the citizens of the Czech Republic and with majority of the rational people all over the world, I do consider your signature of the treaty on further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms a few minutes ago to be a historical event. We see this treaty as an important step forward and as a visible signal in the efforts to make our complicated world safer. Let’s hope that it will have a further continuation in the foreseeable future.

We appreciate that you chose the Czech Republic and its capital Prague and the Prague Castle for today’s signing of the treaty. For us, this choice of yours is recognition of political, economic and social development and stability of our country, and last but not least also an expression of good relations we have with both of your countries. I hope that the spring atmosphere in Prague contributes to the good impressions you will remember from this meeting.

Whereas President Obama – together with his wife Michelle – visited the Prague Castle just a year ago, I have the honor to welcome President Medvedev here for the first time and I wish to reciprocate his hospitality and the friendly welcome I received in Moscow in October last year. There are enough reasons for our relations with both of your countries to develop well.

Allow me, Presidents, distinguished guests, to raise my glass and propose a toast to your health, to the friendship between our countries and to the success of the treaty you have just signed.

Václav Klaus, The Rudolph Gallery, Prague Castle, 8 April 2010

Click here for visiting the photogallery from the U.S. - Russian Federation summit at the Prague Castle.