Blanar Holds Talks with German Counterpart Baerbock

Berlin, October 11 (TASR) - Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) held talks with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock and several members of the Bundestag in Berlin on Friday, TASR has learnt from the Foreign Affairs Ministry. "Germany is a very important partner for us. I am pleased that the visit of Prime Minister Robert Fico, whom I accompanied to Germany in January, was a confirmation of our very good relations and efforts to strengthen them. I am equally convinced that the visit of the Slovak president in two weeks' time will further underline our cooperation," said Blanar. Germany is Slovakia's most important trading partner and, as Blanar added, it is the fourth largest investor in Slovakia, with 600 German companies providing 140,000 jobs in the country. The mutual trade turnover reached €37.6 billion last year. "Our countries are intensively interconnected, so if something happens in Germany, it can also have an impact on Slovakia in terms of the economy. However, thanks to the existing memorandum on enhanced dialogue, we can communicate more intensively across ministries," the minister said. Baerbock confirmed that the sooner Slovakia and Germany cooperate and exchange information in various areas, the more effective assistance will be, in particular in the economic sector. The ministers also discussed energy security and the diversification of energy sources. "We are dependent on energy resources from Russia - on oil, gas and nuclear fuel, so we need to manage the transformation in such a manner that it does not have a negative impact on our economy and people. I am glad that we have mutual understanding on this issue," Blanar remarked. On the issue of irregular migration, Blanar said that he understands why Germany has reintroduced border checks, but stressed that another solution should be sought. Slovakia, together with other Visegrad Four (V4) countries, didn't support the so-called migration pact, as they don't consider some parts of the pact to be operational. "We are ready to cooperate with Germany on this issue. We distinguish between refugees and irregular migrants. We have helped refugees from Ukraine, more than 2.7 million Ukrainian refugees have crossed our borders and 160,000 of them have stayed in Slovakia," the minister added. zel