President of the Slovak Republic Made an Official Visit to the Russian Federation

President of the Slovak Republic SR Ivan Gašparovič started his programme of the official visit to the Russian Federation at the Russian Economic Academy of G. V. Plechanov in Moscow where he was awarded a title of Doctor Honoris Causa.

Then President Gašparovič addressed the Slovak-Russian economic forum. In his address he spoke mainly about the need to dynamize the trade relations between Slovakia and the Russian Federation.

The Slovak President talked about the positive economic and business environment, and the healthy development of economy, which are preconditions that have brought major foreign automotive companies to invest in Slovakia.

The prime point of the visit of the Slovak President was the talks with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Their meeting was dominated by issues of economic cooperation in the development of which both Presidents see great opportunities, agreeing that one of the main tasks is diversification of the mutual trade. "To solve this issue, we have to intensify our cooperation, to stimulate investments, and scientific and technical cooperation," said President Vladimir Putin.

In connection with the expiry of the agreements on supplies of the Russian natural gas to Slovakia in 2008, both Presidents confirmed a principal agreement to sign new long-term contracts. According to the Presidents, there is plenty of room for a mutually advantageous cooperation in the area of nuclear energy in building and upgrading power blocks of the Slovak power plants as well as in the military and technical areas.

The Russian President appreciated the increase in the volume of the mutual trade which according to experts should achieve the level of five billion dollars this year. „I find the meeting with President Putin very successful and perspective for the benefit of the development of cooperation between our countries, not only in the field of power industry and economy,” remarked the Slovak President after the meeting.

During their extensive discussion, Ivan Gašparovič conveyed President Putin the interest of the Slovak side to purchase the 49% package of the Transpetrol stock.
Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov presented an opinion at the plenary talks according to which “the Slovak Republic is one of the countries that after joining the EU and NATO have not reduced the volume of cooperation with the Russian Federation, which we highly appreciate.“

He also informed about the talks held between the Russian Federation and NATO which should contribute to stabilization of the world security. In this connection, he underlined the presence of the Slovak Republic in the UN Security Council being its non-permanent member.

Following the meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Ivan Gašparovič met with Chair of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Boris Gryzlov. Then the Slovak President was received also by Patriarch of Moscow And All Russia Alexey II, and Mayor of Moscow Yuriy Luzhkov. The series of talks continued with a meeting with Governor of the Omsk Region Leonid Polezhayev.

The best known investment involving both countries is the joint–venture Matador-Omskshina. Ivan Gašparovič attended an opening of another operation unit.

The official visit to the Russian Federation included also Kransoyarsk where the Slovak President met with Governor Alexandr Chloponin. In Krasnoyarsk the Slovak President officially unveiled a monument dedicated to Czecho-Slovak legionaries.

Finally, he opened a honorary consulate of the Slovak Republic and attended the economic forum whose objective was to intensify the bilateral economic cooperation.