Foreign ministers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia agreed Friday to jointly continue efforts to obtain visa-free admission for their citizens to the United States.

 

The United States still has to take several steps toward changing the visa regime that may result in the lifting of entry visa requirement for Czechs and Slovaks, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said.

 

U.S. President George W. Bush said in November he would seek a Congress sanction granting the visa waiver policy to more selected countries.

 

The Czech Republic and Slovakia are among the 13 countries, overwhelmingly European nations, that are working toward achieving the right.

 

The Czech Republic, Slovakia and other Visegrad Four (V4) countries, along with the Baltic states, must coordinate their policy toward the United States, Schwarzenberg said.

 

"These are our joint efforts and we will not abandon them until we succeed," he added.

 

The Visegrad Group, composed of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, was established in 1991 to coordinate the action of its members for EU integration. The four have been cooperating since their admission to the EU in 2004.

 

Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis, who was on a visit here, said the V4 is preparing special consultations at the ministerial level in the near future.

 

These consultations should also be attended by representatives of the Baltic states and other countries which are interested in the visa-free regime, he said.

 

Slovakia and the Czech Republic could also cooperate on the issue of the visa waiver by Canada, Kubis added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2007)