President Ivan Gašparovič hopes that Ukraine will be able to resolve issues that have led to the cancellation of a summit of presidents of central and eastern European countries that was to have taken place in the Black Sea port of Yalta on May 11-12, presidential spokesperson Marek Trubač said, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Ukraine’s move came after a number of senior officials pulled out of the summit in protest at the country's treatment of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is currently in prison. The Ukrainian government has announced that the summit will take place at a later date, although none has been set.
Gašparovič, for his part, had said he would attend the summit. Speaking on May 6, he said that “I will go to the meeting [the Yalta summit] unless it is cancelled, as I am convinced that Slovakia, as Ukraine’s immediate neighbour, must have an open dialogue with Kiev”, TASR wrote.
“In addition, we need to communicate about issues that have sprung up concerning Ukraine’s internal political developments,” Gašparovič added. “I believe that such a debate can yield benefits to us, the European Union, as well as Kiev.”
Source: TASR
For more information about this story please see: Top representatives of V4 countries meet in the High Tatras
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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