BRATISLAVA, September 10, (WEBNOVINY) — Swiss Federal President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf received in her residence at Lohn Manor in Kehrsatz near Bern the Slovak President, Ivan Gasparovic, who arrived for a state visit to Switzerland on Monday. „I am pleased that I could visit your country as the first ever president of the independent Slovak Republic. My goal is to further expand the current good level of our relations with Switzerland,“ said President Gasparovic. He said he considers as most important expanding mutual trade and investments. „We are very interested in cooperation in research and development, as well as innovations, which ranks your country among the world’s best,“ said the Slovak president.
The Slovak presidential delegation visiting Switzerland also includes Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajcak and Economy Minister Tomas Malatinsky. Their participation, along with representatives of Slovak science and universities should contribute to strengthening of cooperation in science, technology and innovations. According Gasparovic, mutual trade has seen a continuous increase in the past six years. „On the other hand, we cannot be satisfied with a turnover in 2011 of just EUR 870 million, which, compared with Slovakia’s trade with other countries in the region is a poor outcome.“
Switzerland ranks 14th on the chart of foreign investors to Slovakia. The Swiss president stressed the importance of research and development for a country, and therefore welcomed the interest of the Slovak side in organizing a joint innovation forum Swissness in October 2012 in Bratislava. „Switzerland can contribute by its quality of professional education, which is at a high level,“ said the Swiss president.
During their talks, President Gasparovic pointed out that „Slovakia considers innovations as a key tool to ensure competitiveness of its economy.“ For this reason, we decided to hold a joint Slovak-Swiss innovation forum with the participation of experts from both countries in the field of research, development, government and corporate sectors. The first such forum will be held today in Bern and another one next month in Bratislava. The Slovak president highly appreciated the activities of Switzerland in overcoming the economic and social differences between „old“ and „new“ EU members. In Slovakia, this is done through the Swiss financial mechanism. Since the signing of the agreement in 2007, 22 development projects were prepared, while Slovakia used the full allocation of about EUR 47 million.
President Gasparovic told the Swiss president said that „the Slovak Republic sensitively perceives the decision of the Swiss government from April this of year to limit residence permits for EU citizens of eight new member countries, including Slovakia, through the introduction of quotas.“ As the Slovak president said, „we consider it unfair that our country is treated differently than other EU members.“ In response, President Widmer Schlumpf noted that Switzerland appreciates the freedom of movement within the European Union, but given the 22 percent of foreigners living in Switzerland, the country uses these quotas to shield itself against other immigrants coming from abroad.
SITA