The meeting on Wednesday 18 June culminated in a day-long meeting at the Czernin Palace, at which Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský spoke. The Director General of the Czech Centres, Jitka Pánek Jurková, presented the strategy of the institution focused on public diplomacy in the context of current challenges and its value anchor.  

She recalled, among other things, the opening of the Czech House in Belgrade, which the Czech Centres manage, last autumn and which provides a space to tell the Czech story of successful transformation with its European dimension. There are also plans to revive the Czech Centre in Moscow in a virtual form, whose activities were suspended shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In addition to the eighteen Czech Centres abroad where Czech language courses have a tradition, we have added three more centres where we have started teaching, namely the Czech Centre Belgrade, Hanoi and Seoul. More than two thousand students take Czech language courses in the Czech Centres network every year. 

"First of all, I would like to acknowledge the exceptional commitment of the Czech Centre teams abroad. Their representatives do their work in often very difficult conditions," said Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský. 

"At a time of geopolitical upheaval, it is essential that we, as the Czech Republic, are present, understandable and anchored in values for other countries. Communication and public diplomacy remain key to promoting Czech national interests and forging alliances where they are particularly needed," said Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský. 

Jitka Pánek Jurková, Director General of the Czech Centres, stressed that the Czech Centres also see the current challenges as an opportunity. 

"It is precisely where official lines of communication are complicated that relations on a cultural, sporting and civil - in short, human - level play a huge role. I am glad that the Czech Centres for Czech Foreign Policy can play this role. But current events are shaping the lives of our teams in the territories in a big way. The director of the Czech Centre in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem returned on Tuesday morning on an evacuation flight, and before Christmas a ballistic missile damaged the Czech Centre in Kiev. Due to increased security pressure, for the first time in the history of our institution for example, we have introduced a system of psychological support for our teams," said Director Pánek Jurková. 

This year, the Czech Centres have newly launched a long-term programme line united by the theme of safe space, which reflects the dynamics of the contemporary world and its relationship to safety and resilience as an individual and social phenomenon, especially through the prism of different cultural contexts.  

For 2026, programmes related to the legacy of Václav Havel's values and ideas are being prepared to commemorate the 90th anniversary of his birth, especially in relation to the young generation, and the Czech Republic's hosting of the Frankfurt Literary Fair. Photography in connection with the advent of AI or the Czech footprint in space research will also be given a prominent place. They continue to support the creative process and networking through a programme of residencies and curatorial trips. 

The meeting started on Monday 16 June at the Directors' retreat in Kutná Hora, at the GASK Gallery. The choice of location emphasized the connection of the Czech Centres with the cultural world and the opportunities that cultural diplomacy offers for the Czech regions. 

In the course of one year, nearly 1,700 Czech events will take place abroad - from Tokyo to New York - and more than 7.5 million visitors will attend them. The heads of the Czech Centres discuss their experiences from the past twelve months and the programme priorities for the coming year.