THE FISCAL problems affecting Europe and Slovakia were among the topics discussed by President Ivan Gašparovič and a group of members from the US Congress led by Representative Dan Burton from Indiana who spent two days in Slovakia, the TASR newswire reported.
Burton applauded the good relations between the two countries and said they should be further cultivated, noting that the Indiana National Guard is closely cooperating with the Slovak Army.
Burton, along with representatives Gregory Meeks, Ruben Hinojosa, Terri Sewell and Frederica Wilson, met as well with the Slovak speaker of parliament, Pavol Hrušovský, Prime Minister Iveta Radičova and Milan Ježovica, the state secretary, i.e. deputy minister, of the Foreign Ministry.
Hrušovský and the US representatives discussed mutual relations, the European sovereign debt crisis, ways to build inter-parliamentary cooperation and security issues.
“They [the members of Congress] appealed to Europe to accept its share of responsibility for world peace,” Hrušovský said, as quoted by TASR.
The chair of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, Juraj Droba, added that the “US representatives confirmed that they still view Europe as their key partner” and that they expressed interest in the work of the Slovak contingent of ISAF in Afghanistan.
Hrušovký added that the members of Congress expressed some surprise and a certain level of admiration at how Slovak parties are able to govern with so many of them represented in parliament.
