President of the Slovak Republic Received the Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia

President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič received Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Vojislav Koštunica.

At the meeting, the President voiced his pleasure to have the opportunity to meet representatives of the country with which Slovakia has a lot of common history. He also informed the guest about the essential changes and reforms implemented by Slovakia. „Slovakia also was perceived ambivalently abroad at the time of building its statehood. Now we can say it was unjustly and that the opposite has become true,” said President Ivan Gašparovič. In addition he emphasized the efforts of the Slovak Republic to build democracy and strengthen Slovakia’s economy. He uttered his conviction that the present government of Slovakia would manage to defend its position.

He expressed his wish that Serbia be perceived in Europe and in the world as a country that builds a democratic system. However, he underlined that Slovakia supported the preservation of the integrity of current Serbia’s territory, and the nations living there must understand that they are part of a single state. Issues of the Western Balkans and Serbia namely belong to the main priorities of Slovak foreign policy. Moreover, the President of the Slovak Republic assured the Serbian Prime Minister that Serbia would have an objective assessor in the Slovak Republic, and Slovakia would further support the efforts of Serbia to join the EU and NATO.

The Slovak side carefully monitors the development in Kosovo as well as the steps of the Serbian side in connection with adopting a new constitution. During the talk, the Serbian Prime Minister appreciated the partnership-based closeness of the two countries. He informed the Slovak head of state about the democratic development in Serbia which is led by a democratic coalition government. He also mentioned positive international responses to the wording of the new constitution which will be a subject of a referendum in Serbia. According to Vojislav Koštunica, Kosovo should get the highest level of autonomy except the international legal subjectivity.

President Ivan Gašparovič remarked that Slovakia in the position of a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council takes an intensive interest in the Kosovo issue, and he added that nothing else but the most acceptable variant could be adopted for the future of the region which should stay part of Serbia. He also pointed out the peaceful split of Serbia and Montenegro, while the Serbian Prime Minister termed the variant of preserving the common federation as a better solution.

The talk of the Serbian Prime Minister and the President of the Slovak Republic included also some issued related to the Slovak ethnic minority living in Vojvodina, and the good relations of Slovaks and Serbs.