New head of the Office for Slovaks Living Abroad is Ján Varšo

THE PERSON at the helm of the Office for Slovaks Living Abroad (ÚSŽZ) has changed; the incumbent Igor Furdík is leaving, and on September 16 the government approved the proposal to recall him and to appoint Ján Varšo in his place.

Foreign Minister Miroslav LajčákForeign Minister Miroslav Lajčák (Source: TASR )

Furdík will finish his assignment in this position by September 30, and from October 1 Varšo will take over, the SITA newswire wrote. Furdík has been the chairman of ÚSŽZ since May 2010.  The proposal to recall him was made after talks with him, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák explained.

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“He has completed the task I gave him; which means that he has stabilised the office, introduced transparency, and the rules of the game,” Lajčák summed up Furdík’s term. He also added that the outgoing chairman managed to de-politicise the office – which can also be seen in the way the ÚSŽZ report is being accepted in parliament without any problems.

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Lajčák counts on Furdík to continue working in the foreign service. Varšo, like Furdík, had previously been the Slovak ambassador to the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Thus, he is a person “who has practical experience with one of our biggest expat communities”, according to Lajčák. 

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