SLOVAK Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák received his Australian counterpart, Stephen Smith, in Bratislava on February 16. The two ministers discussed the possibility of simplified access of Slovak students to Australian universities, the SITA newswire reported.
An agreement on recognition of student records should be elaborated and signed in the future, Lajčák said.
“We support the arrival of Slovak students to Australia. The benefit is that they will widen their education and then be something like Australia's ambassadors to Slovakia,” said Smith, as quoted by SITA.
Foreign Minister Smith is the first head of Australia’s diplomatic corps to visit Slovakia. Smith said that mutual relations are good, with Australia appreciating Slovakia’s support and cooperation within the EU-Australia framework, as well as within the Euro-Asian structures and the OSCE.
Australia does not have an embassy in Slovakia and does not plan to open one due to the crisis, according to Smith, who said its embassy in Vienna also serves Slovaks.
Smith remarked that Slovakia has a special place in Australia’s history because in 1949 when Australian citizenship was introduced, the first person to receive it was a Slovak immigrant.
