Slovak President to visit Czech Republic

The Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic will pay a one day visit to the Czech Republic on Monday. The Slovak head of state, who took office last month, is thus fulfilling an unwritten agreement between the Czech Republic and Slovakia in that their presidents always schedule their first visit abroad to the former "sister state". The Czechoslovak federation broke up in 1993, but it was what the papers described as "a velvet divorce" and the two countries have maintained above-standard relations ever since. They supported each other in their ambition to join the EU and NATO and they cooperate closely within the Visegrad Group. On the eve of his visit to Prague, President Gasparovic described Czech-Slovak relations as problem-free and said he was greatly looking forward to the one-day visit.