Lajcak Warned Vietnam Against Possible Consequences in Abduction Case

New York/Bratislava, September 26 (TASR) - Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak met with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh in New York on Tuesday, TASR learnt from the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry. The meeting was dominated by the topic of kidnapping of former Petrovietnam Construction chief Trinh Xuan Thanh from Germany, in which the Vietnamese authorities allegedly abused, according to a number of circumstantial evidence, the territory of Slovakia and the country's government aircraft. Lajcak strongly condemned this act, saying it was a fundamental violation of international law and a gross abuse of the Schengen system, which also has a negative impact on Slovak-Vietnamese relations. The meeting of the two ministers took place alongside the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York. The head of the Slovak diplomacy clearly and categorically emphasised that the Vietnamese party's previous explanations of the serious suspicions of the abduction of a Vietnamese national across Slovak territory are not satisfactory. He therefore called on his counterpart, saying that Vietnam should very quickly clarify all the doubts to restore confidence in mutual bilateral relations. "If you continue to insist that you haven't abused our hospitality and your kidnapped citizen wasn't on board the Slovak government aircraft, then I ask you for an unmistakable explanation of how you transported him from Germany to Vietnam. Any misleading on your part will have consequences on our bilateral relations and we're ready to also take restrictive steps on the European Union's ground," Lajcak clearly said to his Vietnamese counterpart. At the same time, he stressed that the Slovak side requires immediately a credible explanation from the Vietnamese side, including the provision of evidence. Pham Binh Minh promised to interpret this stance to the leadership of his country. am/mcs/mf