ANKARA - Slovakian President Rudolf Schuster was welcomed with an official ceremony by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer at Cankaya Presidential Palace on Tuesday.
Sezer said that Turkey attributed importance to relations with Slovakia, adding that they wanted to further strengthen the relations with a concrete and permanent cooperation.
Sezer said that they would revise Turkey-Slovakia relations with all dimensions with Schuster and added that they would also search the ways to increase cooperation on economy and trade fields. Sezer said that they would take up various international and regional issues especially European integration and would also exchange views to strengthen international solidarity against terrorism.
Noting that accession of Slovakia to the European Union (EU) and NATO in near future would bring another cooperation dimension to bilateral relations, Sezer said that the visit of Schuster would contribute to strengthening of friendship and cooperation between two countries and would be a new step to further develop the relations.
Schuster said that he believed that relations between two countries would be deepened and cooperation would increase with his visit.
Thanking for Turkey's support in Slovakia's NATO process, Schuster said that they would continue to support Turkey's EU process.
Noting that Slovakia had a difficult period in EU process, Schuster said that they wanted to convey their experiences to Turkey.
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, State Minister Guldal Aksit and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal also attended the ceremony.
(GC-AÖ) 16.12.2003