President: Development of Relations with India Can Build on Past Cooperation

Bratislava, April 10 (TASR) - The development of Slovak-Indian trade relations can build on historical cooperation between the countries from the times of the former Czechoslovakia, President Peter Pellegrini stated on Thursday on the occasion of the opening of a business forum that is being attended by a 35-member business delegation from India and representatives of more than 40 Slovak companies. "The good news is that we don't have to start from scratch, as the former Czechoslovakia was once one of India's main trading partners in Eastern Europe. I sincerely hope that today's forum will help build on this legacy and continue the work of our trade delegations," said the Slovak head of state, expressing the hope that the forum will open up new avenues of cooperation between the countries and bring further opportunities for developing relations. Although the countries are geographically distant from each other, friendly relations between them have strengthened considerably in recent years, said Pellegrini. This should be evidenced by, among other things, a number of significant investments, including the opening of the Jaguar Land Rover plant in 2018. Efforts to develop trade cooperation were also praised by President of India Droupadi Murmu. According to her, Indian talents can be valuable partners in Slovakia's economic progress. Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) also considers cooperation between Slovakia and India to be crucial. "It's important for us that the free trade agreement that is currently being negotiated between the European Union and India is finalised as far as Slovak-Indian relations are concerned," said Blanar, pointing to his recent visit to India. This involved a Slovak business delegation that partly focused on developing trade relations between the two countries. The ongoing business forum is being attended by entrepreneurs from India active in the automotive, defence, IT, artificial intelligence, cyber-security, rail transport, electric mobility, energy and medical technology sectors. am/df