MFA: Career Diplomat Machac Becomes New Slovak Ambassador to Germany

Bratislava, 30 May (TASR) - Career diplomat Juraj Machac has become the new Slovak Ambassador to Germany, the Foreign Affairs Ministry's communications department has informed TASR. According to the ministry, Machac previously served as head of the Slovak diplomatic missions in the Netherlands, Austria and at the UN in Vienna. Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) stressed that Germany is a strategic partner for Slovakia in political, economic and security terms. "We began building modern Slovak-German relations shortly after midnight on January 1, 1993, when Germany was the first country in the world to recognise the newly established independent Slovak Republic," said Blanar. Blanar noted that Germany also significantly supported Slovakia in its EU, NATO, Schengen and the eurozone integration efforts. According to him, the two countries are intensively interconnected and face new challenges together. Germany is also a key partner of Slovakia in the field of foreign trade, he said. Some 80,000 Slovaks have found jobs in Europe's largest economy, and so the consular agenda is a very important part of the activities of the Slovak Embassy in Berlin, said Machac. "Not only in helping Slovak citizens, but also in developing economic diplomacy and presenting Slovakia, our cooperation with the Slovak Consulate General in Munich and six honorary consular offices in Bad Homburg, Dortmund, Hamburg, Hildesheim, Leipzig and Stuttgart will continue," he noted. ko/df