Participants had been selected on the basis of their essays on a foreign policy topic which they had sent during the application process. It had been opened on the 1st of September and had lasted for more than a month. The average number of applications annually received significantly exceeds the capacity of the project; therefore, the selected applicants are those who have most successfully met the application requirements.

At the very beginning of the workshop, essential information about the whole season was presented by the coordinators of the project – by the Chief Coordinator Eva Prudilová, the Deputy Chief Coordinator Filip Jelínek and the Programme Coordinator Daniela Chvátalová. A presentation about the Association for International Affairs, under which auspices the Summit is prepared, was given by its director Vlaďka Votavová. The next speaker was Daniel Koštoval, Deputy Minister of Defence – Head of the Armaments and Acquisition Division, who had also helped to found the Prague Student Summit. Among other topics, he debated with students about the necessary qualities of a good diplomat and mentioned the downsides of this profession. He also answered a number of questions about defence, Czech foreign policy and international affairs.

The rest of the morning part consisted of educational seminars about work of diplomats at embassies and in various international organizations. One of the guests, former Czech Ambassador to the EU Milena Vícenová, appreciated mainly the activity and the knowledge of the participants. “It was so well-prepared group that I have to say I hadn’t experienced something similar for a long time. I sometimes have this kind of tricky questions for Czech Members of the European Parliament or the Czech European Commissioner, and here I got so good answers that I was truly delighted. Their questions were based on the fact that they already know something and that they think about it.”

Participants spent the afternoon part of the workshop divided into the various models and bodies. We are already looking forward to the second workshop which will take place on the 17th of December.