President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and President of Slovenia Borut Pahor discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation.
"I see that your state, from the time of my past visit four years ago, has made a significant progress. Ukraine has already recovered from the economic crisis and is now developing at a very fast pace," the Slovenian President said, noting the merits of the President’s and Government’s teams.
Petro Poroshenko said that he was extremely pleased to welcome the good friend of Ukraine, the President of Slovenia in Kyiv: "The intensity of contacts between Ukraine and Slovenia is now unprecedented". He recalled the visit of Borut Pahor to the inauguration of the President of Ukraine in 2014 and the meeting of the leaders of the two countries in 2015, 2016, 2017. And today is the first visit after the re-election of the President of Slovenia.
During the talks, the Presidents dwelt on the implementation of the agreements and joint declaration signed in 2016.
"Everything we have agreed upon is being implemented," Petro Poroshenko emphasized, reminding, in particular, of an agreement to launch a direct air service between Kyiv and Ljubljana.
The President of Ukraine thanked for the implementation of the agreement, signed in 2016, on the introduction of an international trust fund for improving the level of human security of the country, where Slovenia is a leading country. The leaders of Ukraine and Slovenia discussed cooperation with NATO, including preparations for the NATO summit to be held in Brussels in July. "Coordination of our actions, including the deepening of integration, including the implementation of reforms for Ukraine to get a NATO membership plan, is extremely important," Petro Poroshenko emphasized.
The interlocutors also discussed preparations for the Ukraine-EU summit. "The support of Slovenia here is extremely important, because we need a new and ambitious program of further cooperation with the EU, including Ukraine's participation in the digital alliance, energy union, discussing the expansion of other areas of our activities, including the Customs Union, the Schengen Area and other positions, which give us a clear task on further promotion of Ukraine in cooperation with the EU," the Head of State stressed.
In his turn, President of Slovenia Borut Pahor said: "Slovenia absolutely supports Ukraine on its way to European integration, because Ukraine is a great sovereign and independent state. Ukraine itself has the right to decide where to go and what to do. And, as a member of the EU and NATO, we are absolutely standing for it".
A significant part of the negotiations was devoted to economic cooperation. "I am pleased to note that in 2017 the trade turnover between Ukraine and Slovenia increased by 31%. 31% is a characteristic of the effectiveness of the deep and comprehensive free trade area, which is realized through concrete bilateral relations," the Head of State noted. According to him, Slovenian business, including SMEs, actively participates in the investments in Ukraine - wins tenders, in particular those announced by municipalities, subjects of local self-government under the projects of the World Bank. "Slovenian companies not only win, but also realize knowledge, experience, modern technology," Petro Poroshenko stressed.
The Slovenian President positively assessed the trends in economic cooperation. "We will continue to sincerely support each other and encourage our states to cooperate. After those difficult years of economic crisis and after such a hard occupation of part of the territory by the Russian Federation, this is very important for you," Borut Pahor added.
As a result of today's negotiations in Kyiv, the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia on Deepening of Economic Cooperation, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding and Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre and the Service of Geodesy and Cartography of the Republic of Slovenia.
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