Minister Lipavský Held Talks in Slovakia with the President, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
18.06.2024 / 21:18 | Aktualizováno: 18.06.2024 / 21:22
Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský visited Slovakia on Tuesday, 18 June 2024. In Bratislava, he held talks with his counterpart Juraj Blanár. In the afternoon, he met with the Speaker-designate of the Slovak Parliament, Peter Žiga, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Robert Kaliňák. Afterwards, he became the first foreign politician to pay an official visit to the new President, Peter Pellegrini. This was followed in the evening by a meeting with the leader of the opposition Michal Šimečka, representatives of NGOs and Czech compatriots.
At the beginning of the visit, Minister Lipavský and his Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanár paid tribute to Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Afterwards, he and Minister Blanár discussed Czech-Slovak relations, the current situation in Ukraine, current security issues and the European Union and regional cooperation agenda.
"I always like to visit Slovakia, our neighbours. Slovakia is, has been and will be the country that has always been historically, culturally and personally closest to us," Minister Lipavský said at the beginning of the press conference and, through Minister Blanár, wished Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico a speedy recovery from the May assassination attempt. "We also discussed the deepening of cooperation in the consular area and cultural diplomacy and laid the basis for a memorandum between Czech and Slovak diplomacy," the Head of Czech Diplomacy added. "We talked about the need to further support Ukraine. I am glad for the humanitarian aid that is flowing from Slovakia to Ukraine. I appreciate that Slovakia has taken in more than 115,000 Ukrainian war refugees," the minister said.
Afterwards, the Minister met Peter Žiga, who is the interrim Head of the national Council, in the historic building of the National Council. Minister Lipavský then moved to the Government Office where he held talks with Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Robert Kaliňák. The afternoon part of the programme concluded with a visit of the new Slovak Head of State, Peter Pellegrini, to the Grasalkovič Palace. This was the first official visit of a foreign politician since the former chairman of the Hlas party took up his new post.
In the evening, a meeting with Slovak opposition leader and chairman of Progresívne Slovensko Michal Šimečka followed at the Czech House. Afterwards, the Minister spoke with representatives of NGOs helping in Ukraine. The programme ended with an evening meeting between the Minister and representatives of the cultural, press, business and Czech compatriots.