Blanar Meets Sybiha on Sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York

New York, 22 September (TASR) - Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) has met his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, TASR has reported based on a statement published by the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry on a social network on Monday. The meeting followed up on negotiations between Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that took place near the town of Uzhhorod in Ukraine on 5 September. The leaders at that time discussed energy issues in connection with Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which led to the repeated suspension of oil supplies to Slovakia. Sybiha and Blanar discussed the future of the European security architecture, the potential for Ukrainian-Slovak defence cooperation through the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence loan tool, as well as energy security issues. The ministers also discussed the development of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Slovakia and the next round of inter-governmental consultations. These were last held in Kiev on 2 June at the level of representatives of the two countries' foreign affairs ministries. Blanar is paying a visit to New York as part of the Slovak President Peter Pellegrini's delegation, which is participating in the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. Blanar's working trip also includes several accompanying events and bilateral meetings. Together with the president, they met Slovak compatriots in East Brunswick, New Jersey at the 47th annual Slovak Heritage Festival on Sunday (21 September). ko/df