MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, May 7): BAKU - Energy, imports of mineral raw materials, the defence industry and information and communications technologies are the main areas in which Slovak and Azerbaijani companies can cooperate, stated Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) on Tuesday at the opening of a business forum in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on Tuesday. Sakova is a member of the delegation of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on an official working trip to the country. "Azerbaijan is one of the reformist countries of the South Caucasus. We see here huge opportunities for Slovak companies to cooperate in the development of Azerbaijan because economic growth here is rather high," said Sakova, who also met Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov on this occasion. In the field of energy, she mentioned, for example, the signing of a memorandum between Slovak companies, Slovakia's Export-Import Bank (Eximbanka) and Azerbaijan on the construction of small hydro-electric power plants. "From Slovakia's point of view, it also concerns imports of mineral raw materials, the defence industry, information and communications technologies, the construction of a smart village and other things that Azerbaijan is putting into its reform plans," said Sakova. The Slovak minister pointed out that Azerbaijan plays a relatively significant role in gas diversification for central and eastern Europe. "We firmly believe that we'll be able to establish contacts and cooperation in the field of gas supplies to Slovakia and to eastern and central Europe. Neighbouring countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary, are also interested. We'll make every effort to import gas from Azerbaijan to Slovakia and thus diversify supplies and cut ourselves off from Russian gas," stated the minister, adding that Azerbaijan plans to increase gas production further in the future. BAKU - There is no obstacle to the development of bilateral trade between Slovakia and Azerbaijan, which is currently very low at a level of only €79 million, said Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Tuesday following a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, adding that there is great potential in the energy sector and arms industry, as well as other bilateral cooperation between companies from the two countries. On this occasion, the Slovak premier invited the Azerbaijani president to visit Slovakia. "The idea of importing gas from Azerbaijan via a contact point on the Russian-Ukrainian border, using Ukrainian infrastructure and then Slovak infrastructure at a volume of up to 20 billion cubic metres, must be interesting for everyone," said Fico, adding that Slovakia will respect fair prices for importing this natural gas. The project could be beneficial for Slovakia, neighbouring countries, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, which will provide transit of this gas, he said. Fico also praised the cooperation that is being launched in the field of armaments. "The idea of joint ventures in Azerbaijan is an idea that must be attractive to everyone. We've even gone further into certain details. In our country, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak [Smer-SD] is the guarantor who puts enormous energy into supporting the arms industry in Slovakia, and he'll certainly do everything possible to make this initiative successful beyond Slovakia's borders," said the Slovak premier, also mentioning possible cooperation in the construction of small airports and a smart village. According to Fico, Slovakia wants to be a "bridge" between the European Union and Azerbaijan and to offer the EU objective information on the situation in the country, which he described as a state with a sovereign foreign policy, like Slovakia, while respecting the rules of international law. "We have our own experience, we are sharing your experience and I'll lead our diplomacy. I'll also lead MPs in the foreign affairs committee so that the view of all events connected with your country is as objective as possible," added the Slovak prime minister. BRATISLAVA - Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) announced that he will initiate the sternest possible punishments for perpetrators who make false bomb reports, TASR learnt from Sutaj Estok's post on a social network on Tuesday. "Hundreds of thousands of children, parents, teachers and common people have been scared by threats of potential bomb attacks today. The security is top priority and I, as the Interior Minister, guarantee that the police will take all necessary measures to prevent the endangerment of lives and public health," said Sutaj Estok. He added that such reports cannot be taken lightly and evacuation is the only proper preventive response to eliminate the risk that the reports might be real. Earlier on Tuesday, extensive bomb reports have been recorded in schools throughout Slovakia. The police has registered 1,323 bomb reports thus far. At the moment, it's 110 schools in the Bratislava region, 148 schools in the Trencin region, 232 schools in the Nitra region, 119 schools in the Trnava region, 176 schools in the Presov region, 216 schools in the Kosice region, 94 schools in the Banska Bystrica region and 228 schools in the Zilina region. BRATISLAVA - The National Crime Agency (NAKA) is dealing with the threat of bomb attacks at schools, which were announced concerning more than 200 schools across almost all of Slovakia, the police reported on a social network on Tuesday, adding that they immediately took the necessary measures to prevent the possible consequences mentioned in the emails sent to the schools. "We're taking every measure we can to ensure that there is no risk to life and limb. The Police Corps doesn't take such threats lightly, which is why we've involved other police forces in the measures, in addition to NAKA officers," added the police. Bomb squads, dog handlers with specially trained service dogs and riot police units of individual police regional directorates were called out. On the basis of the evidence gathered, a NAKA investigator has launched criminal proceedings regarding the particularly serious crime of a terrorist attack. The perpetrator, if caught, will face a prison sentence of 20-25 years or even life imprisonment. "We're working intensively to clarify the act and track down the originator of the emails. We're also cooperating with other security services and foreign partners," stated the police. Bombs alerts were reported at schools in all eight regions of Slovakia on Tuesday morning. mf