On 29 August 2023, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Wlachovský attended the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia at Lake Bled.
“Our strong partnership – based on values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and dignity – is the answer to Russia’s vision of the world, according to which the European Union and its Member States are mere vassals of America without a voice of their own. And not only on the East-West axis, but also in relation to the countries of the Global South. The world is literally in flames – from both war and catastrophic fires – and there is no time or space for further artificial divisions. At the same time, as the Covid 19 pandemic has shown, we need to strengthen our independence from the supply of strategic goods from third countries. The European Union has the potential to be a strong global player and partner,”said the Minister in a panel discussion entitled “Goodbye Europe? – Global Leader or Global Vassal: Europe in a New Geopolitical Era.”
“Foreign policy starts at home and, in this sense, we need to strengthen our citizens’ perception of the EU, to strengthen partnerships and togetherness,” the Minister added.
The resounding themes in international relations, particularly Russian aggression against Ukraine and migration, as well as issues of bilateral cooperation – dominated Minister Wlachovský‘s bilateral talks with his ministerial counterparts from the Korean Republic, Saudi Arabia and Sweden. At the meeting with the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the head of Slovak diplomacy expressed his full support for the efforts to kick-start democratic changes in a country where, regretfully, human rights violations by the Lukashenko regime are part of a daily routine.
This year’s Bled Strategic Forum was also marked by solidarity in view of the devastating floods that caused millions of euros in damages to Slovenia, in early August. “Slovenia is our close partner and we will always be ready to show our solidarity not only with statements, but also by providing tangible assistance,” said Wlachovský.
Slovakia has so far provided four crawler excavators and four dump trucks with service personnel to remove the aftermath of torrential floods.
