The conclusion of the legally non-biding agreement is one of the conditions of visa-free relations with the USA. The Czech Republic must also sign with the USA an agreement on the exchange of information on the persons who were in the past convicted of serious crimes. The Czechs want the agreement to be signed by mid-September, Mala said. The agreement will concern cooperation between the Czech Czech govt approves military strategy without ForMin's comments ...
EU needs Czechs on its path to better future - EP president ... and American counterterrorism centres.
According to international law experts, no commitments generally ensue from the legally non-binding agreement. "The fulfilment of the agreement is dependent on the goodwill of the contractual parties and it cannot be enforced by any means," the Foreign Ministry told CTK. Interior Minister Ivan Langer said previously that the anti-terrorism centre was to be established in the Czech Republic by the end of this year. It will probably operate within the police organised crime unit (UOOZ) and its task will be to analyse and submit the obtained information. Mala said that the agreement was ready. The Czech Republic is also to sign with the USA by mid-September a legally binding international agreement on the prevention and suppression of serious crime. On its basis, the two countries will exchange information on the people convicted of serious crimes. The concrete data that will be provided are still under discussion. The extension of the U.S. visa waiver programme to include other countries, including the Czech Republic, is expected as of this autumn. The Czech Foreign Ministry said it hoped that the Americans would announce lifting visas for Czechs at the end of October and the beginning of November. The announcement will contain the date by which the decision will take effect, the Czech diplomacy said. The U.S. visa waiver programme includes 27 countries. At present, 15 of the 27 European Union member states do not need visas while travelling to the USA. Of the new EU members that were admitted in 2004 it is only Slovenia. Americans do not need visas to any of the EU countries. In the future, the EU citizens will be able to ask the permission to enter the USA via the special electronic system ESTA, which also concerns Czechs. The United States wants to launch the system at the beginning of August and applicants will have to ask for entry permits via the Internet at least three days before the departure.
(Ceske Noviny)
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