Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at a meeting in Kiev with Slovak Foreign Minister Rostislav Kacher thanked him, the Slovak government and the president for receiving and supporting more than 100,000 Ukrainian displaced persons and helping Ukraine obtain EU candidate state status.
“We are grateful to you for supporting our temporarily displaced people, of whom you now have over 100,000. We are grateful to you also in terms of diplomacy for supporting us without hesitation on our way to the EU – in terms of granting Ukraine the status of an EU candidate state,” Zelensky said.
He also thanked Slovakia for supporting Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
“I thank Slovak President Zuzana Chaputova and extend to her warm greetings, the Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet of Ministers who have been and are by our side,” the president added.
On Wednesday, October 13, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger met within a working visit to Malmö(Kingdom of Sweden), where they discussed relevant issues of bilateral relations.
According to the Cabinet of Ministers press service, during the meeting, Shmyhal said that Ukraine highly appreciates the support provided by Slovakia in matters of protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“We count on the support of Slovakia in countering the Nord Stream 2 operator in an attempt to bypass the standard certification requirements of the European Union,” the head of the Ukrainian government said.
The sides also discussed issues of gas transportation, development of electricity and hydropower, renewable energy sources and others.
“Denys Shmyhal also said that Ukraine is looking forward to holding the fifth meeting of the Ukrainian-Slovak joint commission on economic, industrial and scientific-technical cooperation and other intergovernmental commissions by the end of the year, as this will give new incentives to strengthen partnership between the countries,” the Cabinet of Ministers said.
The sides also agreed to hold the next meeting in Uzhgorod soon.
