IN BRIEF

Vaclav Klaus is the President of the Czech Republic since 2003.

He also served as the Czech Prime Minister from 1992-1997 and as President of the Czech Parliament from 1998 to 2002.

As part of the initial wave of post-communist reformers he rose to power following the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.

His views on inflation, monetary and fiscal policies, comparative economic systems and economic transformation have been published in many journals around the world.

What he has to offer you

Expand your knowledge of conducting business with Central & Eastern European countries. Be educated and entertained as he explains how he became the architect for what would be seen as a model for transforming a state-run economy to capitalism.

Get a real flavour of international affairs from this proven economist.

IN DETAIL

After studying in Prague, Italy and at Cornell University in the USA Vaclav Klaus started his career as a researcher at the Institute of Economics at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

In 1987 he became Head of the Department of Macroeconomic Policy at the Institute.

One of the founders of the Czech Civic Forum Movement (OF), the leading political organisation after the Velvet Revolution of 1989, he served as the first non-communist finance minister from December 1989 to July 1992.

In October 1991, he became the Deputy Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia and in June 1992 was appointed Prime Minister for the Czech Republic.

In March 1996, he was elected as Vice-Chairman of the European Democratic Union and in 1998 he was elected President of the Czech Parliament/Chamber of Deputies for a four-year term.

He is a member of the Mont Perlin Society and a recipient of the Schumpeter Prize for Economy. Among other awards and doctorates he has received the prize of the International Freedom Foundation and the prize of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation.