Czech-American Relations – the Next 100 Years Starts Now

Date of event: 26.4.2018

The Prague Centre for Transatlantic Relations of the CEVRO Institute (PCTR) held a public debate called “Czech-American Relations- the Next 100 Years Starts Now”. Our guest was Stephen B. King, who is currently the U.S. Ambassador in the Czech Republic.

Into the event introduced us and also moderated the discussion Alexandr Vondra, the president of the PCTR. In his speech, he mentioned the 100years anniversary of the Czechoslovakia establishment.

Stephen B. King was confirmed by the Senate on October 5, 2017, as the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic. He is a prominent public servant and businessman who successfully acquired, built, and sold a speciality chemical manufacturing business and founded a family investment business. Ambassador Stephen B. King served as a National Committeeman for the Wisconsin Republican Party from 2007-2017. Earlier in his career, Ambassador Stephen B. King investigated civil rights violations for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, served as an investigator for the U.S. Senate´s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and was named Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for liaison between USDA and the Agriculture Committees of the House and Senate. Ambassador Stephen B. King earned an M.A. and B.S. at Western Illinois University. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois.

Ambassador Stephen B. King believes in a positive future. He mentioned some historical facts that are connecting history between Czech and American people, such as The Pittsburgh Agreement, The Washington Agreement and T.G. Masaryk’s inspiration from The US Constitution for creating The Constitution of the Czech Republic. He also spoke about the “care package “. He thinks that the most important things for the Czech and US relationship are friendship, security and economic prosperity. People should share the same values and should want to invest in each other country, support each other. By him is the Czech Republic one of the top destinations for American students.

Questions in the discussion were for example about infrastructure, International Visitor Leadership Program and Donald Trump behaviour in Russia.