Taraba Attends United Nations Conference on Oceans in Nice

Nice, 9 June (TASR) - Vice-premier and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) took part in the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, on Monday, TASR was told by the ministry's communications department on the same day. As part of his visit to France, he also attended a dinner at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron and held talks with Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. According to Taraba, it is important for Slovakia to maintain good relations with the whole world, especially with its allies in Euro-Atlantic structures, from where the main part of investment in Slovakia comes and to where the main part of Slovak exports goes. "I'm known for having a very close relationship with France, and I'm keen to further develop our cooperation in all aspects. We are linked to France not only by the past through General [Milan Rastislav] Stefanik, but especially in the present in the form of investments and significant economic cooperation, nuclear policy, but we also agree on the need to kick-start Europe's competitiveness by removing sometimes nonsensical regulations," said Taraba. France is hosting the UNOC3 conference in Nice between Monday and Friday (13 June), with 25 presidents and prime ministers, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in attendance. The conference aims to promote a unified approach to the protection of waters, oceans and seas. Minister Taraba is representing Slovakia at the conference in place of Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), who is on a working trip to Uzbekistan. am/df