BRATISLAVA, April 13, (WEBNOVINY) – The Foreign Ministry may play a much more important role in opening doors to Slovak entrepreneurs in countries where they have not been very successful so far. Prime Minister Robert Fico (SMER-SD) stated this upon introducing Miroslav Lajcak to the post of the foreign affairs minister this Friday. The prime minister is thus considering transferring even a greater amount of instruments to support foreign trade from the Economy Ministry to the Foreign Ministry, the process that began in the previous election term. Under the previous government, the agenda of commercial attaches was moved from the Economy Ministry to the Foreign Ministry. Fico said that he had welcomed this step, as “double track had no place in foreign policy”. He added that more agenda transfers will be considered. He wants the economic dimension to be most prominent in Slovakia’s foreign policy.
Minister Lajcak pointed out that since 1993, Slovakia has followed several models of operation of foreign service and economic diplomacy. “None of these models were ideal,” the minister said, adding that the main problems were double tracking, unclear competencies and management, fragmentation of financial and human resources. According to minister Lajcak, there is space today to eliminate these discrepancies. He is to meet with the economy minister and discuss details.
Prime Minister Robert Fico and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak visit Prague on April 20. It will be their first joint foreign visit. On April 24, they will together travel to Brussels to meet with EC President Jose Manuel Barosso and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Regarding visits to non-EU and non-NATO countries, Fico wants to observe one principle. “I will go for a foreign trip outside EU and NATO only if it has clear economic background,” he said.
SITA