On Tuesday, Foreign Minister János Martonyi received Slovak Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Miroslav Lajčák, who accompanied the President of Slovakia, Ivan Gašparovič, on his two-day visit to Budapest.

The two foreign ministers agreed that Hungarian-Slovak relations had gained new impetus thanks to the repeated meetings of the prime ministers of the two countries as well as to the latest meeting between President János Áder and President Ivan Gašparovič. János Martonyi declared that he would be paying an official visit to Slovakia in March and would also attend the GlobSec security policy forum to be held in Bratislava on April 18.

Both sides endorsed the approval of the EU Multiannual Financial Framework at the last EU summit, and consider it a success for the ’Friends of Cohesion’, an informal group of member states, which both Hungary and Slovakia belong to. They agreed about the need to improve border cooperation between Hungary and Slovakia with the aim to set up new bridges, border stations and energy lines. The two ministers announced that the legal experts of the two countries would continue their talks on citizenship issues in Budapest in March.

The two foreign ministers stated that it was in the fundamental interest of both countries that the European integration of Eastern and Southeastern Europe should be furthered. They pointed out that the state of domestic politics in Ukraine and in the countries of the Western Balkans must improve before any progress can be made in relations between the EU and the governments in Kiev, Belgrade and Skopje.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)