Slovakia will stand with Taiwan as it resists strong powers that threaten democracy, Deputy Speaker of the Slovak National Council Milan Laurencík, the head of a visiting delegation from his country, said Tuesday in Taipei in a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (???).

During the meeting, Laurencík said both Taiwan and Slovakia had gone through long and difficult journeys to achieve democracy.

Laurencík said his country would stand with Taiwan as it makes preparations to resist strong powers that threaten democracy and guard against external interference.

The two countries are geographically distant from each other but have been drawn close by their shared values, Laurencík said, adding that Slovakian and Taiwanese people cherish democracy and freedom.

Similarly, Tsai said she looked forward to seeing the two countries further their cooperation on “consolidating the democratic defense.”

Taiwan and Slovakia have worked together on a number of global issues, including sharing medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic and providing aid to Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia amid the ongoing Russian invasion, Tsai noted.

The president mentioned that the two countries inked 16 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) last December during the inaugural Taiwan-Slovakia Economic Consultation in Taipei.

These agreements, Tsai said, will pave the way for bilateral collaborations on research and development, trade, space technology and semiconductors in the future.

Meanwhile, Juraj Droba, president of the Bratislava Region in western Slovakia, invited President Tsai to visit Bratislava “when future conditions permit.”

Droba also said he would ink a cooperation agreement between Bratislava and Kaohsiung when he travels to the southern Taiwanese city to meet with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (???) on Friday.

He pledged to facilitate bilateral ties between Kaohsiung and Bratislava, especially in the fields of technology and trade, while encouraging academic exchanges between the two sides.

The delegation, which arrived in Taiwan on Sunday for a six-day visit, also includes Peter Osuský, a Slovak lawmaker and chairman of the Slovakia-Taiwan Parliamentary Group, and parliamentarians Anna Zemanova, Tomas Lehotsky, Miroslav Ziak, and Andrej Stancik, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel