The President of the Slovak Republic on His Official Visit to the Republic of Portugal

On 24 - 26 October 2005, the President of the Slovak Republic and his wife officially visited the Republic of Portugal. Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio awarded President Ivan Gašparovič the Portuguese state decoration - the Great Chain of Prince Henrigue. At the meeting, Jorge Sampaio said, among others, that he was very pleased to have the opportunity to welcome to Portugal a president of a country that recently enlarged the large family of the European Union. The Portuguese President also appreciated the ample participation of Slovak businessmen which is a sound precondition to intensify the economic and commercial cooperation.

Talking to his Portuguese counterpart, Ivan Gašparovič underlined the partnership and alliance with Portugal in European integration structures, as Slovakia succeeded in the integration also due to a clear support of Portugal, and also the personal support of President Sampaio. Both partners pointed out the high level of bilateral relations and the dynamic cooperation which after joining the EU by Slovakia obtained a character of partner and alliance relations, also due to the closeness of opinions of decisive issues of the EU and NATO future. Both presidents declared their interests in developing economic cooperation, which has been significantly intensified since the visit of President Sampaio to Slovakia. The Slovak side is interested in increasing the mutual trade, in particular direct investments of Portuguese companies in the economy of Slovakia. Moreover, Slovakia expects that the investment activities of Slovak companies will increasingly grow on the Portuguese market. The Presidents of Portugal and Slovakia declared their identical positions to a number of aspects of functioning of the enlarged EU. Jorge Sampaio emphasised that the EU needs every member state, that it respects every opinion.

Nevertheless, the EU must have a single goal in the context of the EU New Financial Perspective for 2007 – 20013, whereby both Presidents underlined the need of the Perspective. The partners confirmed the closeness of their opinions regarding further enlargement of the EU. During their discussions, President Ivan Gašparovič underlined the interest of Slovakia in re-assessment of applied barriers of free movement of labour force, since the worries of the flood of workers from the new EU member states have not been confirmed. In addition to the topic of the EU enlargement, the Slovak and Portuguese Presidents also talked about multilateral cooperation. In this connection, Ivan Gašparovič highly appreciated the cooperation of Slovakia and Portugal on the ground of the United Nations Organization as well as other international institutions. President Ivan Gašparovič said that the success of Slovakia in election of a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the period of 2006 – 2007, based on a quality and long-term preparation of Slovakia, confirmed that Slovakia had managed to establish a position of a recognized member of the international community, having the necessary potential to contribute to solving any urgent issues. On this occasion, the Slovak President thanked the Republic of Portugal for its support of the Slovak candidacy. President Ivan Gašparovič also met with the Speaker of Portuguese Parliament, Jaime Gamo, and with the leaders of the Portuguese economy headed by President of Portuguese Industry Jorge Roch de Matos. Then the Slovak President and the Portuguese President opened the economic forum. During his official visit, Ivan Gašparovič also talked to Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates, met with General Consul of the Slovak Republic to Portugal Manuel Bastus, visited Mayor of Porto Ruia Ria, and opened the Portuguese – Slovak Trade Seminar organized by the Porto Trade Association.