BRATISLAVA/LISBON, November 20, (WEBNOVINY) – For the first time since his appointment to his new capacity, Slovakia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikulas Dzurinda has met with his Ukrainian counterpart Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, at the NATO summit in Lisbon. On this occasion, the Slovak MFA inquired about the interest of Ukrainian citizens in joining the EU and expressed support for the country’s aspirations for European integration. According to Gryshchenko, Ukraine’s citizens are highly in favor of this ambition.
At the meeting, the Slovak minister supported further liberalization of the visa regime between Slovakia and Ukraine, and invited his partner to visit Slovakia. Dzurinda sees this as an opportunity to debate the European agenda, including the relations between the EU and Ukraine as well as the Eastern Partnership, in a comprehensive way. Also the minister again mentioned Slovakia’s interest in sharing its experience in integration processes, and highlighted a large scale of options for bilateral cooperation. Ukraine is the only neighboring country that is not a member of the EU and the NATO.
Dzurinda tackled mutual bilateral and multilateral cooperation also at the meeting with Turkish MFA Ahmet Davutoglu, which was the first in his incumbent capacity, as well. The two politicians hailed the excellent economic cooperation, and Davutoglu praised the experience of the Slovak diplomacy in the Western Balkans. In return, Dzurinda spoke highly of the recent trilateral meeting of Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia as well as the talks involving Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, which helped improve bilateral ties in the region. The head of the Turkish diplomacy confirmed his interest in an official visit to Slovakia, which is planned for the beginning of next year.
The information was provided by the Head of the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s press department Juraj Tomaga.
SITA