Brussels, 05/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Head of the Czech Mission to the EU, Libor Secka, and the Director General for the European Commission's DG Culture, Nikolaus van der Pas, signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" this week regarding the Czech Republic's participation in the Community MEDIA programme. The programme's main objective is to support European audio-visual production and strengthen competitiveness in this industry on the world market. Other countries had already signed such agreements with the Commission before the Czech Republic (most recently, Poland, Latvia and Estonia). Candidate countries have to meet a number of conditions to be able to participate in the MEDIA programme: completion of "culture and audio-visual" chapter in the accession negotiations and implementation of the "television without borders" directive". While awaiting the formal accession of the Czech Republic to the MEDIA programme, a "Media" desk will be set up in the country in order to assist audio-visual operators define and prepare projects likely to receive backing. The Czech contribution to the MEDIA budget will be EUR 370,000.