Slovak News Back to the news
Schwarzenberg: Slovakia Has Surpassed Us in Forming Gov't and Reforms
Saturday 10 July 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, July 10 (TASR) - Slovakia has outfooted the Czech Republic not only in forming new government but also in necessary economic reforms that were carried out by the two former governments of Mikulas Dzurinda (1998-2006), which the Czechs still haven't managed to introduce, incoming Czech foreign affairs minister Karel Schwarzenberg told at Saturday's informal meeting with Dzurinda, who became the new Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister the day before.
"I was very happy to learn that the future minister and my future counterpart had been about to visit Slovakia, and we had got an opportunity for meeting. I can't imagine a better morning on my second day in the office in Bratislava," said Dzurinda.
Three days ahead of his trip to Brussels, Dzurinda said that Slovakia will take such a stance towards the EU financial safety net framework that nobody would have the impression that "we want to cause problems".
Within the Visegrad Four grouping (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) it is necessary to focus on development of infrastructure, said the Slovak minister. "I remember the echo that was sparked twelve years ago by the reconstruction of the Mary Valerie Bridge between Sturovo (Nitra region) and Esztergom (Hungary) that was damaged during the WWII. Now, after twelve years, we can see the significant contribution of the bridge to revival of the region," said Dzurinda.
The Slovak minister further stressed the importance of tourism in Central Europe. "I see great opportunities there, as Central Europe has a very pretty nature and is also culturally rich. We should realise, maybe more than we did in the past, that new jobs aren't produced only by car-makers and industry, but also by development of tourism," added Dzurinda.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
