Japan-Slovakia Relations
Foreign Minister Kono pays a Courtesy Call on the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, H.E. Mr. Pellegrini
On May 22nd, commencing at 2:45p.m. local time (9:45p.m. on May 22, Japan time) for approximately 15 minutes, Mr. Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was visiting Paris to attend the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM), paid a courtesy call on the MCM Chair H.E. Mr. Pellegrini, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic.
1. At the beginning, Minister Kono stated that he was honored to meet Prime Minister Pellegrini and that the theme of digital economy was a very timely agenda and one of the priority issues of the G20 Osaka Summit. Minister Kono also appreciated the Slovakia’s hospitality during the Prime Minister Abe’s visit in April and hoped to further develop friendly relations between two countries toward the 100th anniversary of Japan-Slovakia exchanges in 2020. In response, Prime Minister Pellegrini stated that it was honor to welcome Prime Minister Abe in Slovakia and he would like to strengthen bilateral relations.
2. Furthermore, Minister Kono and Prime Minister Pellegrini held exchanges of views regarding continuation of high-level political dialogue, enhancement of economic relations, future cooperation within frameworks of “V4+Japan” and OSCE, also about regional issues including Europe.
(Note) V4: A regional cooperation framework consisting of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. It was founded in Visegrad in Hungary in 1991. It holds dialogues at the leader, foreign minister, and senior working levels and promotes “V4 plus Japan” cooperation in a wide range of areas, such as science and technology, assistance to third countries, disaster risk reduction, and the environment. Slovakia is currently chairing the V4 for one year, beginning from July 2018.