PRAGUE (Reuters) - President Václav Havel and the Czech government stepped up their efforts on Wednesday to stem the flow of gypsies who have left the country seeking a better life in Britain and elsewhere. After meeting the cabinet, Havel appealed to gypsies -- hundreds of whom already have sought asylum in Canada and Britain in recent weeks -- to reconsider the situation, and for all Czechs to be more sensitive to racism. The government called in a statement for Czechs to improve relations with the gypsy community and asked the gypsies not to leave. Havel, alluding to the unlikely chances of their getting political asylum, asked gypsies to "not embark on an adventure which will only, in the end, bring misfortune." "I would likewise appeal to all citizens to fight against all unconscious and hidden elements of latent racism which, in our society, is dormant," Havel told reporters after cabinet meeting. A local television report last month showing a gypsy family living in relative comfort in Canada while awaiting a decision on its asylum application sparked a wave of departures, leading Canada to re-impose visa requirements on Czechs. The exodus later focused on Britain where several hundred Czech and Slovak gypsies have landed at the port of Dover, or have been denied transit from the French port of Calais across the English Channel. Gypsy unemployment in the Czech Republic is commonly 60 percent or more, literacy levels are low and criminality, proportional to the size of the gypsy population, is high. A survey last month by the state-funded Czech research agency IVVM showed that 43 percent of Czechs believed it would never be possible for Czechs and Gypsies to coexist happily. Only six percent saw things getting better within a few years. Asked how the situation could be improved, only a little more than a quarter of respondents said Czechs should be more tolerant of the 200,000-300,000 strong gypsy community. Havel, fearing the resumption of British visa requirements for Czechs similar to the move by the Canadian government, is expected to discuss the gypsies' exodus with British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a visit to London next week. "The government considers the Roma community as a natural part of our society and it considers and fully respects Roma culture and its contribution to our whole country," Prime Minister Václav Klaus said reading a government statement after the meeting with Havel. The statement, based on a report of a special cabinet commission on the gypsy community, called on the gypsies to stay in the country and work constructively with the government to improve the situation in the country.