On the forecourt of the Presidential Palace, President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič welcomed with the highest honours the Luxembourg Grandducal couple – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and his wife Maria Teresa who came for a three-day official visit to the Slovak Republic together with Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg. On this occasion, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume was awarded the Order of the 2nd Class White Double Cross by President Ivan Gašparovič. Grand Duke Henri awarded President Ivan Gašparovič the Grand Cross of the Civil and Military Merit Order of Adolf of Nassau.

During the talks, President Ivan Gašparovič highlighted the traditionally good relations and contacts of the political representatives of both countries, and expressed his conviction that the intensity and quality of the political dialogue would be further preserved. In addition, President of the Slovak Republic thanked for the pro-integration support of Luxembourg in the EU pre-accession period of the Slovak Republic. The Slovak Republic has proved that the decision to integrate Slovakia into international Euro-Atlantic structure was a right decision. Grand Duke Henri recognized the recent success of the Slovak Republic in the political, social and economic areas, in particular the expansion of automobile industry in Slovakia. The topics of discussion included also the current situation in the European Union as well as the issue of world security, especially the inevitability of a wide international cooperation in this respect.

Moreover, President Ivan Gašparovič appreciated the presence of Luxembourg business representatives in the entourage of the Grand Duke, and expressed his belief that their visit would help the potential move of investments into the Slovak Republic. He also stressed the ability of Slovak investments to expend abroad. Both parties appreciated the developing cooperation between the regional groupings of V4 and Benelux, existing at both, political and experts’ levels, and recently also between parliamentarians. President Ivan Gašparovič underlined activities of the Foundation of Silvia Gašparovičová in favour of supporting education of handicapped people. During the talks, First Lady of Slovakia presented the intention of the Foundation to open a European House of Folkcrafts in Slovakia. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa interested in the Foundation activities as well as possibilities for young beginning businessmen to draw loans.
At the end of the talks, both parties emphasized large cooperation opportunities, in particular, in the fields of services, hotel industry, balneology and tourism.