The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojkovic met today with the Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Andrej Danko, in official visit to the Republic of Serbia at the invitation of the National Assembly Speaker.
Gojkovic and Danko said that Serbia and Slovakia share a hundred-year long history of traditionally good relations grounded in the two nations’ closeness, friendship and support and today’s intensive political dialogue demonstrates a clear readiness to improve and expand cooperation.
Gojkovic thanked Slovakia on its steady support and principled stance on abiding by international law i.e. on Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and its consistent position on the unilaterally declared independence of so-called “Kosovo”. Gojkovic said it was important that Slovakia be informed about the course of the dialogue in Brussels, pointing out that Pristina has still not established the Community of Serb Municipalities and emphasized the importance of implementing the Brussels Agreement.
Gojkovic said that Serbia greatly appreciates Slovakia’s support in the Euro-integration process and its support of EU enlargement, which was one of the priorities of Slovakia’s chairmanship, adding that EU accession is Serbia’s foreign policy priority and the country is fully dedicated to reform and harmonization with EU legislation, in which the Slovak Parliament’s experience is invaluable.
The Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic said that the two countries share a long history of friendship and support adding that that Serbia and Slovakia would continue to support and help one another in the future.
Danko said that Slovakia stands firmly by Serbia’s side on the Kosovo-Metohija issue and would not change its principled stance on the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo-Metohija.
Danko reaffirmed Slovakia’s support of Serbia on the path to the EU, stressing that if anyone should become a member of the organization, it should be Serbia and that Slovakia is ready to share its experiences, but appealed to Serbia to protect its natural resources as much as it can in the process.
Gojkovic said that this visit just goes to confirm how important interparliamentary relations are for bilateral cooperation in general, adding that the Serbian Assembly is eager to strengthen parliamentary cooperation at the level of working bodies, especially the committees on foreign affairs, European integration, culture and education.
Gojkovic and Danko agreed to cooperate and exchange experiences concerning the drafting of documents important for the operation of the parliament, for example Rules of Procedure in view of the fact that the National Council of the Slovak Republic had recently completed a new one, and the drafting of a code of conduct, a joint effort of Slovakia, the Visegrad Group and Austria since the parliaments of these countries did not have such a document.
The two heads of parliament stressed that the members of the Slovak national minority in Serbia and the Serbian national minority in Slovakia add a special dimension to the two countries’ outstanding relations and agreed to continue to cooperate on the issue and advance the position of the two national minorities.
The Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic addressed the MPs at a special sitting of the National Assembly.
