Premier Fico Meets Donald Trump in Florida, They Discuss Ukraine, EU and Energy

Palm Beach/Bratislava, 18 January (TASR) - If we behave in a self-confident and constructive manner and show interest in peaceful cooperation with everyone interested, no one will look down on us, Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said following his working meeting with US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday (17 January), the Government Office's press department has informed TASR.
        Fico said that the visit was held in an informal spirit, which he described as a sign of respect and trust. The meeting was also attended by the US and Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministers, Marco Rubio and Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD), respectively.        
        During the discussion, they touched on the issue of Ukraine, where the Slovak premier explained to the US president his previous positions, which hadn't changed. "All my positions are known enough and I repeat them in the same wording at every meeting," he said. In the context of other sensitive international events, Fico declared "Slovakia's peaceful position and the opinion that diplomacy and mutual listening must take precedence over military solutions".
        According to the premier, he and Trump shared the same view of the European Union as an "institution undergoing deep crisis." He added that they jointly assessed the bloc's competitiveness, energy and migration policies.
        They also discussed the inter-governmental agreement on the Slovak-US cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy, which was ceremoniously signed in Washington before the Florida meeting. "Both countries are fully aware of the fact that it's impossible to address serious energy challenges through wind turbines or photovoltaics, and that the rapid development of nuclear energy is the basis for the future," said Fico.
        Fico further said that he presented the US president with a Slovak postage stamp featuring the US Marine Corps soldier of Slovak origin, Michal Strank. As a commander of a military unit, Strank raised the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima in February 1945 as a sign of the victory over Japan. Fico said that a photograph of this event became the model for a significant military monument located at Arlington National Cemetery.
        "The trip to the United States was another success of ours, just as our visits to Russia, China, and many other countries were. We make many decisions with a long-term perspective... Fortune favours the bold, the sovereign, and the proud. The trip to the USA, from which we are just returning, was a sovereign, self-confident, and useful representation of our homeland," stated the Slovak premier.