Mr President! Mrs Pavlova! Your Excellencies! Ladies and gentlemen! It is my sincere pleasure and honour to welcome you on your state visit to Latvia! This is a special visit. The last time we had the honour of hosting a Czech President on a state visit was exactly thirty years ago, when President Václav Havel visited Latvia. Both then and now, the Czech Republic and Latvia have much in common. The histories of our nations have remarkable similarities. We are nations that freed ourselves from…
Mr President! Mrs Pavlova! Your Excellencies! Ladies and gentlemen! It is my sincere pleasure and honour to welcome you on your state visit to Latvia! This is a special visit. The last time we had the honour of hosting a Czech President on a state visit was exactly thirty years ago, when President Václav Havel visited Latvia. Both then and now, the Czech Republic and Latvia have much in common. The histories of our nations have remarkable similarities. We are nations that freed ourselves from empires and gained independence. We lost that independence. We resisted and survived fifty years behind the Iron Curtain. We ultimately regained our statehood and freedom. We returned to where both Latvia and the Czech Republic have always belonged …
