President Kiska: Slovakia Firmly Supports Georgia’s Membership to NATO

BRATISLAVA - The Slovak Republic will represent Georgia’s interests at the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit.

The decision was made after a meeting between Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his Slovak counterpart, Andrej Kiska, in Bratislava on Monday. Since the NATO Summit in Brussels will be attended only by NATO member states, Margvelashvili asked Kiska to represent Georgia at the meeting.

The President of Slovakia stated that currently Georgia is in a difficult security situation and emphasized that Slovakia firmly supports Georgia entry into NATO. "When I saw a Georgian citizen living behind the barbed wires, I witnessed Russia’s aggressive actions taken against Georgia. This is an important warning for each of us. Russia only thinks about its own interests,” Kiska said, referencing his visit to Georgia.

He also noted that Georgia-Slovakian cooperation space is constantly expanding. “Georgia has achieved significant success in terms of cooperation and integration with the European Union. This success is reflected in activation of a visa-free regime in the Schengen zone, which is huge progress. Georgian citizens are enabled to share European values," he said.

The Georgian President’s Administration reports that at the meeting, the presidents discussed the prospects of further developing and strengthening relations between the two countries. They also mentioned the need to accelerate joint efforts to make best use of existing political-economic potential and turn fruitful relations into tangible results.

Margvelashvili informed Kiska about the recent developments in Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He stressed that the Russian Federation has made a transition from a creeping occupation regime to an obvious annexation and emphasized the need to develop the Anti-Annexation policy with allies and take coordinated steps to prevent Georgia’s annexation. “In this regard, active engagement of Georgia’s partners will play a crucial role,” he added.

The politicians also discussed Georgia’s role in the stability and security of the Black Sea region.

At the expanded meeting between Georgian and Slovak officials, the Georgian delegation expressed interest in developing tourism between Georgia and Slovakia. The importance of expanding economic and trade ties between the two countries and increasing the volume of bilateral trade turnover was highlighted.

Margvelashvili thanked President Kiska for granting Georgian students scholarships and enabling future cooperation in education.

Honored to be a guest in #Slovakia w/ President @Andrej_Kiska. Looking forward to deepening and strengthening relations of our countries pic.twitter.com/1Cgnttl3Sq

— President Of Georgia (@MargvelashviliG) May 16, 2017

Furthermore, President Margvelashvili met with the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico. The two leaders discussed the prospects of strengthening Georgia-Slovakia cooperation in the areas of politics, economics and trade. They also discussed the importance of the Southern Energy Corridor program and TEN-T projects.

The Georgian President also held a meeting with the Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Andrej Danko. They discussed the importance of advancing cooperation in multilateral parliamentary formats, such as Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, NATO and OSCE Parliamentary Assemblies.

By Thea Morrison