Foreign minister hands out Gratias Agit awards

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on Friday presented 13 people with the Gratias Agit award for promoting the good name of the Czech Republic abroad. Among this year’s laureates were contemporary British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard who helped Czech dissidents and writers in the communist era, British composer and pianist Karel Janovicky, promoter of Czech classical music and Ivor McElveen from Ireland, the founding director of the Czech-Irish Trade Association.