Ukraine, Kiev - The foreign affairs ministries of Ukraine and Slovakia signed a cooperation agreement, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko infromed during a briefing with his Slovak counterpart Miroslav Lajcak.

This protocol, he says, outlines the mechanism of bilateral consultations. "Particularly, we are interested in the neighboring country's know-how in implementation of the European integration program," the minister said. Hryschenko also said that Ukraine and Slovakia are out to speed up amendment of the agreement on the local border movement to liberalize the issue of permits for travels across the border by Ukrainian citizens.

Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak also met Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Lajcak told Yanukovych that Slovakia regards the energy sector as key to Slovak-Ukrainian relations. Lajcak said that the smooth transit of resources via Ukraine represents an issue of energy security for Slovakia, and the one of criteria according to which reliability and trustworthiness of Ukraine is judged.

The Ukrainian President assured Lajcak that the gas crisis, such as that experienced by Slovakia in January 2009, will never happen again. Lajcak was also given the same guarantees by his Ukrainian counterpart Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, with Ukraine confirming its interest in improving bilateral relations with Slovakia even after the rise of the new Ukrainian administration.

The parties also discussed the visit of the Slovak President to Ukraine scheduled for July 2010.

(Compiled from press reports)