Ambassador Jana Šedivá conveyed sincere greetings of the President of the Czech Republic Mr. Miloš Zeman to the President Rodrigo Duterte and the people of the Philippines and assured President Duterte that during her tenure of office, she will exert all efforts to expand mutually-beneficial cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Philippines.

Ambassador Jana Šedivá mentioned that bilateral relations between the Czech Republic and the Philippines were always very friendly and gradually deepening during recent years. Czech and Filipino spiritual and political linkages are going far back in history, to the times of first Jesuits and scientific expeditions to Philippines and to the friendship of national hero of the Philippines Jose Rizal with a Czech citizen Prof. Ferdinand Blumetitt, whom Rizal visited in the Czech lands in 1887 and to whom he also addressed his last letter.

Czech and Filipino people also share their love to Infant Jesus of Prague. Growing number of Filipinos tourist are arriving every year to the Czech Republic to see the Child Jesus and countless beautiful historical places.

The Czech Republic, that time Czechoslovakia, was the country whose citizens shed their blood during the defense of the Philippines in the Second World War alongside with other Filipino brothers in arms in the battle of Bataan.

President Duterte also invited Her Excellency Jana Šedivá for a tete-a-tete, accompanied by Secretary of Foreign Affairs H.E. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., Secretary of Trade and Industry H.E. Ramon Lopez and Secretary of Finance H.E. Carlos Dominguez.

Both sides appraised the value of mutually-beneficial bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues - political, trade, development or cultural cooperation, based on shared interests and mutual respect. President Rodrigo Duterte expressed interest in deepening particularly defense cooperation.

Ambassador Jana Šedivá studied Sinology at Charles University in Prague and Beijing University. She is a career diplomat who worked as Deputy Director of the Dept. of Asia and the Pacific at the Czech Foreign Ministry until last December. During her two decades long diplomatic carrier she served at Czech embassies in Jakarta and the Hague, Czech Centre in the Hague as well as EU´s Judicial Cooperation Unit - Eurojust.