V4 Presidents Summit Starts in Polish Town of Wisla, Pellegrini's First

Wisla, December 16 (TASR-correspondent) - The summit of presidents of the V4 (Visegrad Four) countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) started at the presidential residence in the Polish town of Wisla on Monday, TASR has learnt from its special correspondent. Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, Czech President Petr Pavel and Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok arrived in Wisla at the invitation of their Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda. Pellegrini is taking part in the summit of heads of the V4 countries for the first time in office. "I'm coming to the presidential summit with the expectation of useful, but above all friendly, neighbourly talks. Although this is my premiere in this format, I meet and speak to my V4 colleagues regularly and often on many other occasions," noted the Slovak president before the beginning of the summit. He pointed out that he's meeting his colleagues at a strategic moment, but also at an unpredictable time. "We are at the beginning of a new EU institutional cycle, just after the US presidential election, in anticipation of the first steps of the new US administration, but, in particular, a short time before the important Polish presidency of the EU. We'd like to make the best use of the concurrency of the current Polish presidency of the V4 and the upcoming one of the EU for the benefit of the Visegrad region and, above all, our nations, said Pellegrini. Following the welcome ceremony, the presidents will have a joint working lunch, which will be followed by a plenary session without media participation. The heads of the four countries will discuss the current issues of the region, the European Union and the global situation. They'll also speak about the issue of building resilience and the possibilities for coordination in the field of civil protection and crisis management following the recent huge floods that hit all four countries. The presidents will inform the media about results of the summit at a final press conference. ko/df