Rasi to Visit Prague and Hold Talks with Okamura

Bratislava, 15 June (TASR) - House chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) will travel to the Czech Republic on an official visit on Tuesday, 16 June, with his programme set to focus primarily on a bilateral meeting with Speaker of the Czech Chamber of Deputies Tomio Okamura, TASR learnt from the Parliament Office's press department on Monday. The main aim of the visit will be to present the priorities of Slovakia's upcoming presidency of the Visegrad Group (V4: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), deepen inter-parliamentary dialogue and reaffirm the exceptionally close relationship between the two countries. The visit will culminate in the ceremonial signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on establishing an Award for Czech-Slovak Mutual Relations. "We're travelling to Prague with a clear mandate to protect and develop our economic, strategic and cultural interests. We want to coordinate a common approach with our Czech partners at the EU level in promoting effective solutions to reduce energy prices and in revising the ETS2 emissions trading system, which would place a burden on both our industry and households," said Rasi. "Alongside these pragmatic issues, it's also important for us to honour our shared history. Speaker Okamura and I will lay wreaths at the National Memorial at Vitkov and pay tribute at the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius to the heroes of the Czech-Slovak resistance during the Second World War, in particular the Slovak Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis [who assassinated leading Nazi Reinhard Heydrich]," he added. Rasi and his Czech counterpart are also expected to discuss strategic issues, including energy sovereignty, nuclear energy, coordination in implementing artificial intelligence legislation and cooperation in the automotive industry, with an emphasis on maintaining technological neutrality. mf/df