SINCE several countries have not noticed the separation of Czechoslovakia yet and do not really understand the respective labels Made in Slovakia and Czech Made, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Czech counterpart, Jiří Rusnok, want to promote the Czechoslovak brand abroad. They said so after the meeting held in Prague November 28.
The countries in question are located mostly in Asia and Africa. Slovakia and the Czech Republic want to enter them with well-established label from the past and market their companies together, Fico said, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Fico suggested to Rusnok to present such a project together in one of the relevant countries as soon as in the first half of 2014.
“He replied that, once he assumes the office, he would be quite glad to embrace that approach,” Fico said, as quoted by TASR. At the moment, the Czech Republic has a caretaker government.
During the meeting the prime ministers also signed an agreement on mutual recognition of education certificates which will allow Slovak students who have graduated from a school in the Czech Republic to have their diplomas and certificates recognised by Slovak offices free of charge. At the moment Slovaks have to pay about €100.
“Those who had acquired a degree abroad and then wanted to have their diplomas and certificates officially recognised by authorities at home know that it is a very demanding and complicated procedure,” Fico said, as quoted by TASR, adding that scrapping the fees is a big step forward.
Rusnok said that the agreement will make the exchange within the education sectors of the two countries easier.
The fees will however stay in place for some ‘regulated professions’, such as physicians, lawyers and tax consultants. The reason is the European legislation, explained Slovak Education Ministry spokesman Michal Kaliňák, as reported by TASR.
During the press conference Fico refused to comment on the election of extremist Marian Kotleba to the post of Banská Bystrica governor, explaining that he did not want to give him any more limelight than he is getting already, TASR wrote.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
