The Americans may lift the visa duty for Czech citizens within two years, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said after he met US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried on Thursday.

 

"Everything is developing well towards the abolition of the visa duty within two years. It will mainly depend on political negotiations and the stand of US Congress," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova conveyed Schwarzenberg's words after his meeting with Fried.

 

U.S. President George W. Bush assured Czech President Vaclav Klaus during a NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, last November, that the effort to abolish visas for Czechs and other new EU countries will succeed.

 

Schwarzenberg said on Thursday that he and Fried discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the participation of NATO countries in the stabilization of the country.

 

They also discussed Kosovo status and the attitude to Iraq, according to Schwarzenberg.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2007)