SLOVENIA AS UK'S PARTNER
First Official Visit of the President of the Republic of Slovenia to the UK
Statement following talks with Tony Blair

London (United Kingdom), 10 December 2001

Following an invitation by British Prime Minister Tony Blair on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, President Kucan arrived for his official visit of three days to London. The President was received by Queen Elizabeth II, who decorated him with the Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George, thus endowing President Kucan with an honorary title of Sir. Mr Kucan held talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair at No. 10 Downing Street, and was called on by Britain's Secretary of Defence Geoffrey Hoon and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

As part of his UK visit President Kucan held a lecture titled »Europe in a Changed World – an Outlook from Slovenia« at London's Royal Institute of International Relations, followed by a question and answer session with the distinguished audience. Mr Kucan also visited London City where he met with Lord Mayor Michael Oliver, as well as the Borough of Greenwich, which has been twinned with the City of Maribor in Slovenia, and met with mayor Terry Malone. President Kucan also paid a visit to the BBC where he held talks with International Department Director Mark Byford, the editor of European Programmes and members of the Slovene language section.

The President of the Republic was accompanied on his UK visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Rupel, Minister of the Economy Dr Tea Petrin, State Secretary Ms Renata Vitez, Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ms Marta Kos, as well as several leading members of the business community.

Our talks were very good, kind and very sympathetic toward Slovenia. My expectation to further strengthen the recognition and the belief in the UK that Slovenia is a partner that counts – a good partner in bilateral relations, a good partner in the endeavours for appeasing Europe's South East, a good future partner in European structures, in the European Union and Nato, and that it is a good partner to the United Kingdom, the European Union and the international community in the fight against terrorism – the response to all these issues was positive. Including even express assurance that this is how the United Kingdom sees us.

We issued the Prime Minister an invitation from our Prime Minister as well as my own invitation to visit Slovenia. That was when his youngest son showed up, and we proceeded to invite the whole family.


Question:
Did you perhaps also discuss the situation in Afghanistan?

MILAN KUCAN
Yes, also. In the context of participation in this antiterrorist coalition and in the fight for the values defended by the democratic world.

Question:
Your talks took longer than scheduled. Usually that is a good sign.

MILAN KUCAN
I'm glad if that is a good sign. It actually is a good sign.

Question:
Did you also tell the PM anything about the Balkans?

MILAN KUCAN
We talked about the Balkans, about the future of SE Europe, including the well-known question of whether a policy of principle should be pursued – this may prove to be somewhat difficult at first – or whether a pragmatic approach is to be applied, which, however, yields questionable results in the long-term.