Ukraine and Slovakia agree to jointly produce engineering equipment for demining
On April 11, consultations between the governments of Ukraine and Slovakia headed by the prime ministers of the two countries took place in Michalovce, Slovakia. The parties discussed a number of critical issues, including energy, economic cooperation, and humanitarian support for Ukraine.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal told that the parties had primarily addressed energy issues.
"Today, the russians have launched another combined missile and drone strike on the energy infrastructure. I briefed the Prime Minister on the situation. We are grateful to Slovakia for its support. We also have many ambitious plans," Denys Shmyhal stressed and added that by the end of 2028, it was planned to complete the reconstruction and modernisation of the Mukachevo - Veľké Kapušany electrical interconnector. This will increase the capacity to export and import electricity.
In addition, Slovakia will have access to Ukraine's marine oil terminal as well as Ukrainian gas storage facilities. The parties agreed to set up a joint working group to help diversify nuclear fuel supplies to nuclear power plants, which in turn will be another step towards Europe's energy independence.
Political support for our country was also on the agenda of the government officials.
"Slovakia strongly supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, condemns russian aggression and stands in solidarity with our European integration aspirations. We talked about Slovakia's participation in the implementation of the Peace Formula of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in particular the point on radiation and nuclear safety, as well as environmental safety in the context of humanitarian demining," the Prime Minister of Ukraine stressed.
Trade and recovery became an important block of consultations. The two governments agreed to review the contractual framework for financial, technical, economic cooperation and social protection by the middle of next year.
According to Denys Shmyhal, the Slovak side also agreed to work on the prompt cancellation of unilateral restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products.
Ukraine hopes that the Slovak business community will take part in the reconstruction of our country. Representatives of Slovak businesses and the Government have been invited to attend a recovery conference in Berlin.
Another block of issues raised at the intergovernmental consultations was logistics. According to Denys Shmyhal, the parties reached an agreement to launch a direct passenger railway connection between Kyiv and Košice by the end of this year.
Ukraine stands ready to actively expand the capacity of its border crossing points.
"We have proposed that Slovakia amend the agreements on the status of a number of border crossing points. We are preparing for negotiations with the Connecting Europe Facility to attract investment in the development of the cross-border railway route Chop - Čierna nad Tisou," the Prime Minister of Ukraine said.
The participants also discussed demining. Slovakia wants to help Ukraine in this area. In particular, it concerns the joint production of engineering equipment and the provision of ready-made machines for detecting and disposing of mines.
Denys Shmyhal noted that today's talks had demonstrated progress in achieving the common goals of Ukraine and Slovakia.
"We are aware that each of our countries has its national interests and priorities, which may sometimes not coincide. At the same time, we have good will, a pragmatic attitude and a desire to resolve all issues in the format of a constructive and effective dialogue," the Prime Minister concluded.
Following the intergovernmental consultations, Ukraine and Slovakia signed a number of agreements, including the Roadmap for Joint Action and the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Nuclear Energy Sector.