Prague Cancels Joint Government Meeting in Response to Slovakia's Foreign Policy

Prague, March 6 (TASR-correspondent) - The Czech government has postponed intergovernmental consultations with the Slovak government, cancelling a joint government meeting that was scheduled to take place in late April and early May, TASR's correspondent in Prague has learnt. One of the reasons behind the move is last week's meeting between Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Czech Premier Petr Fiala reported on Wednesday. "We don't consider it appropriate to hold intergovernmental consultations with the Slovak government in the next few weeks or months as we agreed. We're convinced that it isn't necessary to hold a joint meeting of the two governments at this time," Fiala said, adding that the Slovak government has been informed of the decision. The Czech prime minister noted that his government is aware of close ties between Slovak and Czech society and the extensive cooperation between the countries and wants to continue it. "Cooperation must be based on specific projects, we're interested in developing them," he said. "But it's impossible to hide the fact that there are significant differences of opinion on some key foreign policy issues," Fiala remarked, calling the meeting between Blanar and Lavrov problematic. Fiala added that cooperation between the two countries is not over, however. "We are not cancelling anything, [individual] ministers will still meet. But it's necessary to react in this manner and postpone the intergovernmental meeting," the Czech prime minister added. zel