Caputova Arrives for Summit of V4 Presidents at Prague Castle
A summit of the Visegrad Four (V4 - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) presidents began at Prague Castle on Wednesday.
Bratislava/Prague, November 22 (TASR-correspondent) - A summit of the Visegrad Four (V4 - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) presidents began at Prague Castle on Wednesday, with Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, Hungarian President Katalin Novak and Polish President Andrzej Duda arriving in Prague at the invitation of Czech President Petr Pavel.
The heads of state are scheduled to discuss joint projects and the current foreign-political situation, TASR has learnt from its Prague correspondent. The talks will focus, among other things, on the International Visegrad Fund, which is the only fixed organisational structure of the V4. Its goal is to contribute towards strengthening ties between people through the development of cultural cooperation, the scientific community or research.
Cross-border cooperation in infrastructure projects is on the agenda of the talks as well. This includes, for example, high-speed railways, energy and raw material security and a data-based economy.
The V4 countries disagree in opinions on aid to Ukraine. The Slovak president said before the summit that Hungary's attitude is a long-term one. As for Slovakia, she stated that its stance on Ukraine remains unchanged with the new government apart from the supply of weapons.
According to Caputova, the V4 countries want to develop cooperation on a practical level despite differences in opinions or on some values. "We are neighbours, and in the good sense of the word we are doomed to cooperate. Geography and the neighbourhood factor exceed the mandates of us, individual politicians," stressed Caputova, adding that this attitude has been included in the new government's manifesto.
The V4 presidents last met at the Bratislava summit in October of last year, when the V4 was presided over by Slovakia. The Czech Republic was at that time represented by Pavel's predecessor Milos Zeman, who expressed his wish for the V4 to be expanded in the future to include Slovenia.
