Blanar Meets with Counterparts from Cameroon, Nepal, Palestine and Georgia

Geneva/Bratislava, February 27 (TASR) - Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar had a series of bilateral meetings with counterparts from Cameroon, Nepal, Palestine and Georgia during his two-day working trip to Geneva, where he attended a session of the UN Council for Human Rights and the Conference on Disarmament, TASR learnt from the Foreign Affairs Ministry's press department on Thursday. The meeting with Palestine's deputy foreign affairs minister Varsen Aghabekyan Shahin revolved around the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, with Blanar underlining the need to achieve a lasting peace. He stressed that Slovakia supports the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and emphasised that Slovakia voted to extend Palestine's UN membership and continues to provide humanitarian aid to the region. With Cameroon foreign affairs minister Mbella Mbella Lejeune, Blanar discussed the new embassy, which Slovakia plans to open in Tanzania as well as the liaison office in Ethiopia's Addis Abeba, where the African Union is headquartered too. "We're finalising steps, so as to have an honorary consul representing Slovakia stationed directly in the capital city of Cameroon. This is yet further evidence that we're interested in strengthening our ties with African countries," said Blanar. Georgian foreign affairs minister Maka Bochorishvili asked Blanar for a meeting too and informed the Slovak side about the current situation in the Caucasian country. Blanar reiterated that Slovakia doesn't interfere with election results in Georgia and respects the choice made by Georgian inhabitants in their democratic election. The fulcrum of the meeting with chief of Nepalese diplomacy Arzu Rana Deuba was options of mutual cooperation and activities within the UN. mf/mcs