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President´s Address Delivered at the State Dinner on the Occasion of the State Visit of the President of Iraq

English Pages, 3. 10. 2005

Mr. President, Mrs. Hera Ibrahim Ahmed, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am really glad I can welcome you here at the Prague Castle at the occasion of the first visit of the President of the democratic Republic of Iraq to our country. I believe your today’s visit, Mr President, is of historical and symbolic importance in several aspects. It confirms the friendship between the peoples of our two countries, which was born already at the time when your country gained independence. It expresses the partnership and alliance that bound the Czech Republic and your country after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime not only in the fight against international terrorism, but also in the struggle for the restoration of normal conditions and for the building of a democratic and flourishing Iraq. I believe that your visit is also a promise of the new opportunities for co-operation between our governments, companies, and citizens that have been opening in your country and in the whole Middle East region.

Your country is one of the cradles of civilisation. For millennia, it was one of the most important centres of the ancient and medieval world. The ancient Babylon and later in the Islamic period Baghdad were the largest cities in the world, centres of commerce, culture and art. At that time, most of Europe was a mere semi-barbaric periphery, which was partially adopting the knowledge and the culture of the then developed world, one of the centres of which was Iraq.

In the course of its long history, your country experienced not only the periods of florescence but also long centuries of decline and of rule by oppressors and tyrants of both domestic and foreign origins. Even the independence and the immense abundance of oil in the modern times failed to bring freedom and prosperity to your country and its citizens. Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical regime managed to waste the enormous income from the oil production, dragged the country into devastating war with the neighbouring Iran, attacked Kuwait and was a continuing source of tension and conflicts in the whole region. The most brutal, however, were the methods used by the regime in the war against its own citizens. Elimination of Saddam’s regime by the allied troops under the leadership of the US and British armies opened new opportunities for your country. At the same time, however, the past two years demonstrated that the path towards freedom, democracy and prosperity is complicated and that it will require a great deal of political courage, decisiveness and expertise on the part of Iraqi political representatives, foreign allies, as well as the international community. Despite the daily news about terrorist attacks and their victims, I believe that Iraq is making progress. The recent successful elections represent a good example of this trend. So is the drafting of the new constitution and the preparations for the new elections.

I am glad I can say that the Czech Republic stands on your side and that we participate in the reconstruction of your country. During and immediately after the combat operations we were involved by providing humanitarian assistance and sending a military hospital. Today our specialists train your police and participate in the reconstruction of normal life. I believe that now it is the time for the reconstruction of your economy. In this field there are traditions we can build on. In the past Czech companies build many important industrial establishments and equipped them with Czech technologies. These establishments will have to be launched into operation again, they should be modernised and expanded. Dynamically developing Czech Republic and its economy have a lot to offer to its Iraqi partners. We are no strangers to each other. Hundreds of Iraqi students studied in our country and hundreds of specialists in various fields were trained here. I am convinced we must successfully follow up in this tradition.

Let me propose a toast to the peace, freedom and prosperity of your country, to the Czech-Iraqi friendship, to your health and to the health of your wife and of your family.

Vaclav Klaus, Prague Castle, October 3, 2005