Czech president to make four-day working visit to US

Vaclav Klaus, Czech President, leaves Monday for a four-day working visit to the United States that will include talks with senior U.S. officials in Washington, the president's office said. Klaus will open a cultural exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Tuesday called "Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437," which features 200 works, including panel paintings and goldsmiths' work. He will also meet with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. On Wednesday, Klaus is scheduled to hold talks in Washington with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Richard G. Lugar, an Indiana Republican, the president's office said in a statement Sunday. The talks will focus on both domestic and international issues, including the European Union and the Middle East, spokesman Petr Hajek said. Klaus' trip will wind up with two lectures Thursday and Friday at Harvard University and Brandeis University, both in Massachusetts, reported AP.