Slovak President Attends Celebrations of Italy´s 150th Unification Anniversary

Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič and his wife along with other heads of states attended ceremonies in Rome celebrating the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification.

Foreign state officials were invited to the celebrations by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. The official celebrations held in Rome also involved a military parade at Via dei Fori Imperiali. In the evening, over 40 attending state officials from all over the world listened to “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi at the Quirinal Palace; the celebrations ended with their joint dinner.

During a brief personal meeting with Giorgio Napolitano, Ivan Gašparovič congratulated the Italian President on his country’s double national holiday - the 150th unification anniversary and the 65th anniversary of the Italian Republic.

Slovak President’s invitation to the celebrations and his informal meetings with President Giorgio Napolitano have confirmed the traditionally good cooperation between Bratislava and Rome in bilateral, European and euro-Atlantic issues. Ivan Gašparovič also held bilateral talks in Rome with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Micheline Calmy-Rey.

President Gašparovič and his entourage then moved from Rome to Venice where he met with representatives of the regional government. The Region of Venice is one of the economically most advanced Italian regions, with Italy ranking among the most important business partners and investors in the Slovak Republic. Talks between President Gašparovič and Roberto Ciambetti, the Venice regional authority’s assessor for public spending, cross-border and international cooperation and local organisations, were an opportunity to discuss possibilities of further intensification of mutual trade and economic cooperation, as well as cooperation at the level of local and regional authorities.