The dinner was given to celebrate the anniversary of the 17^th November, which is a state holiday to honour students and for Czechs and Slovaks, the symbol of the struggle for democracy and freedom. This year the dinner was also dedicated to the memory of the late president Václav Havel, who would have celebrated his 80^th birthday in 2016.

In his speech to the students, Ambassador Sečka emphasized that one of the ways to search Havel's legacy should be to distinguish and separate the real stuff from imaginary things, the real things from things virtual, to grasp the essence of acts and to find their pure form. "There is no need to search for a new Václav Havel, it is necessary to discover Václav Havel in ourselves," said the Czech Ambassador. At the same time he voiced his confidence in the democratic system of organisation of society, which can still bring innovative and sometimes surprising outcomes. "It is a living organism, a system that is dynamic and which develops," he said. He also pointed out that citizens have full rights and opportunities to participate actively in its creation. For that, perspective is also needed, as well as the ability to see things in context, to get rid of the black and white perception and to tune and communicate with parties who hold different views than we do.

The dinner was attended by over sixty Czech and Slovak students at Oxford University.