Slovak President Pays an Official Visit to the Kingdom of Denmark At the invitation of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II and His Royal Highness Prince Henrik, Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič and Mrs Silvia Gašparovičová paid an official visit to the Kingdom of Denmark on 23 and 24 October 2012.

After arriving at the airport, the presidential couple was welcomed by the Queen, members of the royal court and Government representatives.

The Slovak President began his visit by opening the Danish-Slovak Innovation and Business Forum. Also present at the event were the Crown Prince of Denmark, Frederik, and about a hundred of Danish and Slovak business people.

Karsten Dybvad, Director General of the Confederation of Danish Industry, praised the achievements of the Slovak economy over the past years. Even though the scope of Danish-Slovak relations is limited, there are many opportunities opening up for businesses in terms of economic relations, he noted.

When addressing the business people present at the event, President Gašparovič stressed that, on a global scale, Denmark was a leader in green technology that is actively contributing to sustainable development. “This is the direction we want to go with the development of our Slovak economy in the future,” he said. Ivan Gašparovič reiterated that the “Kingdom of Denmark is very inspiring for Slovakia. Denmark is a social state, as is so typical of the entire Scandinavian region. There is a great emphasis on building a knowledge economy – because this where the country’s wealth will soon be coming from,” he said.

 According to President Gašparovič, green technology, biotechnology, energy, engineering, pharmaceutical industry, electronics and information technology represent the best way and a “wise philosophy”.

At the business forum in Copenhagen, the Slovak head of state stressed the need for strong cooperation in Europe. He recalled that “Slovakia has an optimal location for doing business in Central Europe and can offer availability of qualified workforce, favourable business environment, adequate costs, political and economic stability, the best labour productivity in the region, skilled and educated employees, constantly improving infrastructure, euro area membership, and proximity to key markets.” As a highest state official, he said he was pleased to see several tens of Danish companies create more than 6,500 jobs in Slovakia.

According to Crown Prince Frederik, “one of the ways to tackle the swings of the economy is through creating partnerships, such as our Danish-Slovak cooperation in agriculture.”

During the second day of his official visit to the Kingdom of Denmark, President Gašparovič met Speaker of the Parliament Mogens Lykketoft. As a former “two-term” speaker of the Slovak Parliament, he said he was delighted to have the opportunity to visit the Danish Parliament, the Folketing. “We are interested in contacts at the level of parliaments, governments, experts and ministries. Despite cooperation in the EU, these contacts are important as well,” he noted. During the talks with the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Gašparovič stressed that he could see “further opportunities for the development of cooperation between Slovakia and Denmark in intensifying the parliamentary dimension of our countries, such as the Committee on European Affairs or the Friendship Group of the National Council of the Slovak Republic and the Danish Folketing.”

Their talks primarily revolved around the current political and economic situation in the European Union. Lykkentoft said that rather than focusing solely on restrictive measures, the EU should also support the growth of member states’ economies. “Slovakia supports the preservation of the euro area and is against doubts over its future. Even our Government has prepared a number of measures to curb the deficit,” the Slovak President emphasised. He added that “tolerating the failure of euro area members to comply with the Maastricht criteria must never be repeated in the future.”

During the talks with Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt, both representatives discussed bilateral relations which should be reinforced by the economic dimension, as well as the crisis in the European Union and the euro area.

Ivan Gašparovič and Helle Thornig-Schmidt agreed that Slovak Danish relations were very good, friendly and developing also on the basis of both countries’ membership of the EU and NATO.

The President reiterated that entry to the euro area was beneficial for Slovakia, regardless of the situation the euro area is facing today. “Today, the Slovak Republic has a government which clearly supports the strengthening of the EU’s stability. The Government has prepared a number of measures contributing to the reduction of the deficit, more effective tax collection, better tax discipline, introduction of a special bank levy, Labour Code reform, pension system adjustment and the public administration reform. These measures should provide an additional €1.5 billion to the next year’s state budget,” Ivan Gašparovič said.

According to the Slovak President, the EU needs a unified fiscal policy, and the measures aimed at creating the fiscal union should be adopted gradually. He recalled that “the powers of the European Union and the responsibility of the national regulatory authorities must be clearly defined.”

The Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thornig Schmidt stressed that “we want to be part of this system, even though we are not a member of the euro area.” We will respect all the conditions, but we also demand the rights that will arise from the introduction of the banking union in the EU.”