U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Prague, to visit Plzeň with Foreign Minister Petříček

Prague, Aug 11 (CTK) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Prague shortly after 8:00 CEST today and he will talk with Czech politicians mostly about cyber security, 5G mobile networks and the increasing influence of Russia and China in the world during his official visit to the Czech Republic.

Pompeo’s official program in Czechia will start in Plzeň where he will mark the 75th anniversary of the west Bohemian center’s liberation by the U.S. army at the end of WWII together with Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček.

On Wednesday, Pompeo will meet Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and President Miloš Zeman. He will also give a speech at the plenary session of the Senate, the upper house of Czech parliament.

According to unofficial information, Pompeo will be having a rest before his afternoon program in Plzeň. After the anniversary commemoration, Pompeo and Petříček will have hour-long talks in the Plzeňský Prazdroj brewery building. They will mainly discuss security and business cooperation between their countries, Petříček said earlier.

Originally, Pompeo was to visit Plzeň in May, but the local celebrations were cancelled over the coronavirus epidemic, as was Pompeo’s Czech trip.

On Wednesday, Babiš will receive Pompeo at a working luncheon in the Kramář Villa in Prague. According to the Government Office press department, they will discuss cyber security, experience with combating the coronavirus, and also medical research and economic cooperation. Then they will give a press conference at the Government Office.

In the afternoon, Pompeo and Babiš will jointly go to Prague Castle, where Pompeo will be received by Zeman. The U.S. diplomacy has said the meeting with Zeman will be a courtesy call, similar to those he pays to heads of state on his trips abroad. Pompeo is to talk with Zeman about economic affairs and cooperation in NATO.

Pompeo will then address the upper house session, meet Senate chairman Miloš Vystrčil and talk to the senators. Out of top U.S. politicians, the last to address the Czech Senate so far was Paul Ryan, the then House of Representatives speaker, in 2018. He also addressed the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies during his Czech visit.

Pompeo will stay in Czechia until Thursday morning before continuing his tour of Central Europe. He will visit Slovenia, then Austria and finally Poland.