Ukraine is President Pahor’s last stop on his Germany–Russia–Ukraine tour

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, is on a working visit to Ukraine where he met President Petro Poroshenko, who initially thanked the Slovenian President for his visit and discussion.

President Poroshenko said that Ukraine had realised the major part of the agreement, which the countries reached during President Poroshenko’s visit to Ljubljana in November 2016. The Ukrainian President thanked President Pahor for his ‘solid and reliable’ support of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence, and expressed his gratitude for President Pahor’s position on maintaining European unity. He also thanked him for the firm stance regarding the Crimean Peninsula and that Slovenia failed to recognise the illegal annexation of the peninsula.

The Slovenian President informed his Ukrainian counterpart of the messages he had conveyed to his Russian discussion partners during his visit to Moscow relating to the implementation of the Minsk agreements, and assessed that the appeasement of the situation in eastern Ukraine would contribute to improving relations between the EU and Russia and to enhancing cooperation. He further noted that “the Russian side currently anticipates too much from the possibility of thawing relations with the United States of America and the first meeting with President Donald Trump to be somewhat more susceptible for certain suggestions. However, today’s visit to President Poroshenko also proved that the situation may still require a great deal of political will and readiness to seek concrete solutions in the future. As a friend of Russia and Ukraine, Slovenia will strive for further developments, which would in reasonable time improve relations between Europe and Russia, including peace, security and prosperity of our friend, Ukraine.”

President Poroshenko also expressed his gratitude for President Pahor’s contribution to strengthening economic cooperation between the states. He said that the interest of Slovenian companies in the Ukrainian market had increased, which pleased him. In addition to economic cooperation, cultural and humanitarian cooperation is also taking place between Ukraine and Slovenia, and the purpose of today’s meeting was according to President Poroshenko to accelerate cooperation in these fields.

Photo: STA