Slovenian President Danilo Türk starts official Latin American tour

Lima, 31.3.2008  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Türk, today begins an official visit to Latin America taking in Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. This afternoon (local time) the Slovenian President will have a first meeting with the President of the Republic of Peru, Dr Alan Garcia Pérez. As the President already informed the media at the beginning of the visit, this Latin American tour is closely related to the priorities of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency and, as part of this, the chairing of the forthcoming EU-LAC Summit to be held in Lima. The Slovenian and Peruvian Presidents will focus on assessing existing forms of cooperation between the EU and the countries of Latin America and on the issues to be covered by the concluding document of the EU-LAC summit. They will also discuss cooperation between their two countries and proposals for bolstering cooperation.

The visit of the President of the Republic of Slovenia is arousing great interest in Latin America – and also in the EU Member States. The visit was planned in agreement with the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. However, Dr Türk discussed the thematic priorities of the visit with a certain EU Foreign Ministers and with the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana.

“Latin America has achieved significant economic and political development and is becoming an increasingly important partner for the European Union,” commented the Slovenian President, adding that partnership relations should be given the best possible substance, which was also the purpose of his visit.

Dr Türk’s next visit will be to Brazil, where he will meet the President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The subject matter of their discussions will be bilateral relations and preparations for the EU-LAC summit as well as global issues. Bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly economic relations, are developing well; there is still, however, great potential for establishing relations in the field of science, transport and culture. The Slovenian President drew attention, among other points, to economic cooperation between Slovenia and Brazil, an issue he has already discussed in Slovenia with Slovenian economic operators investing in Brazil. “This partnership is already extremely significant and the difference in size between Brazil and Slovenia should not lead us astray. Brazil needs diverse partners and looks forward with great interest to partnership with Slovenia in different sectors of the economy,” said Dr Türk.

In response to media questions about his expectations of the visit to Venezuela and the meeting with the President, Hugo Chavez, the Slovenian President pointed out the importance of developing contacts with all the Latin American countries, all striving, each in their own way, to ensure progress in the region. “The fact that Venezuela is one of the biggest oil producers in the world and is a significant economic and political force in Latin America and internationally must be taken into consideration,” he added.