Dne 26.10. ZÚ  Bagdád  uspořádal v prostorách hotelu Babylon Warwick v Bagdádu recepci k 98. výroční  vzniku samostatného československého státu.
Pozváni byli zástupci irácké vlády a ministerstev, poslanci parlamentu, členové diplomatického sboru, představitelé akademických kruhů, obchodní komunity i občanské společnosti. Státní recepce se zúčastnila i jediná Češka dlouhodobě žijící v Iráku.
Oficiální část recepce zahájily projevy velvyslance ČR Jana Vyčítala a ředitele odboru pro evropské záležitosti ministerstva zahraničních věcí pana Ahmada Berwariho.  V projevech zdůraznili význam vzdělání, ctění tradičních hodnot a demokracie. Rovněž vyzvedli úspěchy vzájemné spolupráce a obchodní výměny.
Po oficiálním zahájení zazněl koncert mladých českých umělců, zpěvačku a herečku Irenu Kristekovou doprovodil na klavír Zdeněk Dočekal. Toto hudební vystoupení vytvořilo neopakovatelnou atmosféru, která ve válkou zničeném Bagdádu byla naprosto výjimečným zábleskem normality a kultury.
Konání recepce bylo zorganizováno s přispěním českých firem, které se úspěšně podílí na projektech v Iráku, firmy Aero Vodochody, Lázně Darkov, Škoda auto a Merjan – cestovní agentura.

 

Projev velvyslance Jana Vyčítala

"Good evening, dear excellences, honourable guests, dear friends of the Czech Republic

It is a great honour to have you here to celebrate our national day and it is my pleasure to be here with you.

The bilateral relations between Iraq and the Czech Republic have a very long tradition.

On the contrary, my presence in Iraq has a very short tradition. I only arrived here in June but I hope to stick around for a while. If you let me, of course.  

I know I haven’t been here long enough to develop right cynicism yet, but I can only say my experience with the Iraqi culture has been extremely positive. Which says a lot, considering, we are in a country in the middle of so much turmoil and violence, for so long. Yet, the Iraqi people have faced all this adversity with grace and generosity.

 One thing the rest of the world could learn from the Iraqi people is their amazing hospitality. I want to thank you all for making me feel home since the very first day I arrived here.

I want to share how proud I am of our Air Advisory Team at the Balad Air base. I visited them two days ago and all I can say is, wow. My hat is off to you. Full respect.

For those of you who might not be familiar with this project, the Iraqi Air Force is currently using several L159 fighters made by the Czech company Aero Vodochody. And we have a team of Czech pilots and ground staff up there in Balad to work with the Iraqi Air Force and I am so pleased to report both sides are happy with the results. To all of you who were able to make this happen, thank you!

And I sincerely hope the Czech republic will be able to assist Iraq with other efforts as well. Our country has a long engineering and construction tradition and we would be honoured to be included in the renovations of infrastructure. No need to remind the high level standards of medical  wellness  and physiotherapy treatment.

Allow me to pass my warm welcome to all who studied at the Czech universities and still kept good knowledge of the Czech language and memories about their stay in our country.

I am very happy to announce you, that this evening due to generous support of our partners:

Aero Vodochody, Merjan travel agency, Darkov Spa and Škoda car will be accompanied by a music performance of two talented Czech artists, Miss Iris Kristeková and her pianist Mr. Zdeněk Dočekal. 

Anyway, nobody in this place wants to hear any more speeches, so let me close by saying – and maybe you may call me naive – but I firmly believe that proper education, culture, respect and respect for each other can beat violence, ignorance and radicalism.  We may be making good progress feeding people around the world with food and ideologies, but it is important to remember to feed their souls sometimes too."