Photo: vlada.gov.cz
US President Joe Biden received Prime Minister Petr Fiala in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday, 15 April 2024. The two leaders discussed strategic, security, defence and economic cooperation, energy, as well as support for Czech companies in the US market. They also touched on the security situation in the world, in particular the war in the Middle East and Ukraine. In this context, the US President highly appreciated the Czech munitions initiative.
US President Joe Biden welcomed Prime Minister Petr Fiala and praised the role of the Czech Republic in the current situation. The two statesmen agreed to continue to assist Ukraine, which has been resisting Russian aggression for over two years. "President Biden praised the Czech munitions initiative, and we also discussed the situation in the Middle East and related issues," he said. Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who also discussed economic relations between the Czech Republic and the United States with the US President, introduced the meeting.
"Czech companies operate on the American market, invest, and employ American citizens. We talked about ways to strengthen this cooperation. We also talked about the need for more LNG gas supplies to Europe, because it helps us to get rid of our dependence on Russian gas supplies.. The main topic in this case was nuclear energy," said the Prime Minister. The Czech Republic and the US intend to cooperate, for example, on small modular reactors and the restoration of nuclear capacity in Ukraine. "We agreed to continue intensive negotiations on the nuclear cooperation agreement," Fiala added.
According to the Czech Prime Minister, the meeting was very friendly and several times the level of relations between the Czech Republic and the USA, which are the best in history, and the role of the Czech Republic in the current international environment were praised. "President Biden has repeatedly said how much he loves the Czech Republic and described his feelings 25 years ago when the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was expanded to include countries including the Czech Republic. We agreed that this was a historic moment that was absolutely crucial for the security of Europe," said the Prime Minister
After the meeting at the White House, the Czech Prime Minister moved to the residence of the Czech Ambassador to the USA, where he met with Czech compatriots and awarded the Karel Kramář Medal to Milada Horáková's daughter Jana Kánská for her support of democracy and Czech-American relations. "After the difficult fate you went through, after everything that happened to your family in communist Czechoslovakia, you did not give up on the Czech lands. On the contrary. You were extremely active, you helped and you are still one of the protagonists of Czech-American relations. I appreciate it immensely and thank you." the Prime Minister said in his speech.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala opened Monday's programme with a meeting at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, where he met with CIA Director William Burns together with National Security Advisor Tomáš Pojaro and the directors of the Office of Foreign Relations and Information, the Security Information Service and the Military Intelligence Service to discuss the security situation in the world. "Discussions with the CIA director show a high level of confidence on the part of the United States. It is also an appreciation of the cooperation between the security services of our countries." commented Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
On the second day of his visit to the USA, Petr Fiala will visit and speak at the Hudson Institute. This think tank focuses mainly on national security and foreign policy issues. He will then visit the United States Congress, where he will hold talks with Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul and other members of Congress. In Washington, Petr Fiala will also honour the memory of Václav Havel and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.
vlada.gov.cz/gnews.cz-JaV_07
English 
Czech