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State Secretary Dovžan at bilateral consultations with Slovakian State Secretary

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
State Secretary Gašper Dovžan held bilateral consultations in Bratislava with Martin Klus, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic and took part in a discussion on the future of Europe with student from a bilingual high school.

State secretaries Dovžan and Klus first discussed bilateral relations, which are strong at the political level, as reflected in a number of visits at the highest levels in the recent years. The counterparts advocated strengthening cooperation within various regional formats constituting an effective framework for exchanging and coordinating views on common European and wider international political, security, economic, infrastructural, and other common challenges. 

State Secretary Dovžan then outlined to his colleague the main achievements of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2021. In this context, he highlighted the significant progress that had been made in some key areas, such as effective coordination of measures for curbing the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening the Union's resilience to all types of crises. Another considerable advancement was made in the credible continuation of the EU’s enlargement. Both Slovenia and Slovakia support the European perspective of the Western Balkans as well as the dialogue and constructive cooperation with the Eastern Partnership members. The two state secretaries also touched on the Conference on the Future of Europe process, which has entered a crucial, substantive phase requiring even more intensive work and coordination of views in the future. The common goal is to elaborate the best possible final report of the Conference, which is scheduled to be published in spring 2022.

State Secretary Dovžan took this opportunity to present Slovenia's candidature for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2024–2025 term and expressed his hope that Slovakia would lend its support in this matter.

The counterparts also took part in a discussion on the future of Europe with students from the bilingual Galileo High School. State Secretary Dovžan gave an overview of how the Conference on the Future of Europe is unfolding, explaining which issues are at the centre of attention. He encouraged young people to take an active part in the Conference, which they can do through the multilingual digital platform.