Pellegrini Discusses Defence and Innovation with Finnish President Stubb

Ankara, 8 July (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini has held a bilateral meeting with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb to discuss defence, the defence industry and innovation, Pellegrini announced on social media, adding that he expressed his pleasure that both countries are also making progress in connection with Patria armoured vehicles. "We also touched upon the current security situation in Europe, developments in Ukraine and the need to seek a path to a lasting peace. I also invited the president to Slovakia for the upcoming meeting of the Visegrad Group countries [V4: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia]. I believe that we'll have an opportunity to follow up on today's discussion and further develop the friendly relations between Slovakia and Finland," stated Pellegrini. The presidents or prime ministers of NATO's 32 member states are attending the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey on Tuesday (7 July) and Wednesday. They are expected to reaffirm their support for Ukraine and pledge further assistance. European leaders will also seek to demonstrate to US President Donald Trump their compliance with the commitment made at last year's summit in The Hague, i.e. to increase defence spending to at least 5 percent of GDP annually by 2035. Slovakia is being represented at the summit by Pellegrini, who travelled to Ankara on Tuesday together with Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (both Smer-SD). jrg/df