The working visit of the Lithuanian President to Slovakia and her bilateral meeting with the Slovak President is reciprocal to the official visit by the Slovak President in Lithuania in June 2011. The discussions in Bratislava confirmed problem-free and mutually beneficial political dialogue between the two countries, particularly in the EU context and, especially, against the backdrop of the upcoming Lithuanian Presidency in the 2nd half of 2013.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitè and Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič confirmed that the smooth and mutually beneficial dialogue between the two countries developed particularly intensively at the level of heads of states.

The Slovak Republic supports the accession of Lithuania to the euro area in 2015 and is prepared to share its experience. As regards economic and commercial cooperation, President
Ivan Gašparovič stated that even though the current level objectively reflects both countries’ potentials and geographical orientations, the overall volume of mutual trade and investments, as well as their structure, were not satisfactory.

Both counterparts exchanged their views and compared their objectives and interests concerning the ongoing processes in the EU, whose importance, dynamics and complexity require thorough consideration by both countries, which consider themselves close allies with similar views on most of these processes.

Presidents Ivan Gašparovič and Dalia Grybauskaitè confirmed their joint determination to remain politically, economically and financially responsible members of the core of the eurozone and thus contribute towards its stabilisation. President Ivan Gašparovič welcomed the effort by Lithuania to join the eurozone in 2015 subject to compliance with the Maastricht criteria, and repeated the offer by Slovakia to share with Lithuania its experience with the process of euro adoption.

Both presidents also discussed the protection of the EU’s external borders and the issue of energy security. Lithuania considers Slovakia a model in the area of nuclear energy, with four reactors in operation and additional two in the stage of planning. “Here, we have really immense opportunities to tap the Slovak experience in this area,” Dalia Grybauskaitè said.

President Ivan Gašparovič thanked Lithuania for its willingness to share with Slovakia its experience from the preparations for the Lithuanian Presidency now, that also Slovakia launched similar preparations for its term of EU presidency.


Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitè also congratulated Slovakia on the 20th anniversary of its independence and noted that Slovakia had proven its viability and had become fully integrated into the growing family of nations.