President Zuzana Caputova sees venues for firmer cooperation with Estonia in many fields, particularly in the green transition, renewable sources of energy, digitisation, education and resilience against hybrid threats and disinformation. Caputova said this after her meeting with Estonian counterpart Alar Karis in Kosice on Tuesday, where both presidents discussed the Russian war against Ukraine as well. Karis is on a two-day visit to Slovakia.
Estonia serves as a source of great inspiration for Slovakia particularly in the digitisation of state services. "Only a few weeks back, a parliamentary election was held in Estonia, in which the bulk of citizens cast their votes electronically," pointed out Caputova, who sees this as of great potential for further cooperation. The Slovak head of state underlined that the Estonian school system ranks as the best in the EU. Because of this, she'd like the presidential meeting to be followed up also by a visit from the Estonian education minister.
Caputova can envision closer cooperation in the effort to fend off hybrid threats and the spreading of disinformation from Russia, as this impacts also the security situation in Slovakia. "We share the same view on how to aid Ukraine, precisely because it's in our vital security interest to do so," she added.
Karis voiced appreciation for Slovakia's ongoing aid to Ukraine. Estonia fully supports the formation of special international tribunal to investigate Russia's war crimes. Tallinn has already joined the effort to reconstruct war-damaged Ukraine, with Karis confident that Slovakia might play an important role in the post-war reconstruction, too. The two presidents also broached bilateral trade between Slovakia and Estonia, which recorded a double-digit growth in both imports and exports over the past year. "But I think our countries are aware that there's still room for improvement," he added.
(TASR)
