Slovak News Back to the news
Gasparovic: Slovakia Supports Negotiations Between EU and Russia
Wednesday 07 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 7 (TASR) - Russia is part of the Europe-wide civilising process, as well as being a natural and strategic partner of Slovakia and the whole European Union, said Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic after talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Bratislava on Wednesday.
"We're interested in (seeing) the EU and Russia proceed in negotiations on a new agreement on a strategic partnership," stressed Gasparovic.
Gasparovic said that Slovakia and Russia have extensive common goals, and he expressed his belief that talks will strengthen mutual trust between the two countries. "We've always promoted and will promote an open dialogue, and I'm convinced that such a dialogue is necessary even when disputed issues are discussed. We've never avoided them," he claimed.
The Slovak president thanked his Russian counterpart for personally attending the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Bratislava. "Some will cast doubt on it, but I want to say that I'm proud of Slovaks - that we're able to appreciate that Russian soldiers laid down their lives on our territory in the past and that we look after the graves of these soldiers with dignity," he said.
The main pillar of Slovak-Russian bilateral co-operation is represented by economic co-operation, noted Gasparovic. Therefore, the discussions on Wednesday concerned the development of energy, transport, oil supplies and tourism. He pointed out that even though bilateral trade increased between 2004-08, it then fell due to the economic crisis. "Now we're looking for a joint way out of the crisis by forming joint enterprises. We find co-operation in trade as well," he added in reference to the signing of nine inter-governmental and trade agreements.
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.
