Blanar Holds Talks with EU Commissioner Urpilainen on Illegal Migration

Bratislava, April 30 (TASR) - European issues, events in Ukraine and the Global Gateway strategic initiative were high on the agenda of talks held between Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) and European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen in Bratislava on Monday (April 29), TASR has learnt from the Foreign Affairs Ministry's press department. "Via partnership and investments heading to the Global South countries, we can support their development, help them to create more stable conditions and increase living standards, which will contribute towards their inhabitants not having to leave their homes and look for prosperity in other countries, mainly EU ones," said Blanar, adding that as far as addressing illegal migration is concerned, Slovakia has long been emphasising the need to focus primarily on measures directly in the countries of origin of illegal migration. "Therefore, we fully support the involvement of Slovak businesses in the projects and initiatives of the Global Gateway mechanism," said Blanar, who praised the activities of the European Commission and entities in Slovakia in this connection. At the same time, he highlighted EU Commissioner Urpilainen's role in implementing the project, which aims to mobilise €300 billion from public and private sources for this purpose. The EU commissioner said that it was possible to reach a sum of €70 billion for the initial period of two and a half years. Blanar called the target sum ambitious with regard to the current situation in the world in connection with increases in defence spending and the difficult financial situation that many European states, including Slovakia, are facing. Blanar informed Urpilainen about the ministry's activities, as well as an international conference called '20 years of Slovakia's EU Membership – Challenges and Opportunities' that will take place at the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday (May 2). He confirmed that Slovakia supports the early integration of Western Balkan countries into the EU, as well as Ukraine's EU-integration efforts. The minister also familiarised the EU commissioner with the specific results of the recent joint Slovak-Ukrainian Cabinet session in Michalovce (Kosice region) and Slovakia's mine-sweaping activities as part of aid to Ukraine. ko/df