Slovakia as V4 Chair wants to cooperate with Benelux

During Slovakia's ongoing presidency of the Visegrad Four (V4) group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) the country wants to open a dialogue on current European issues involving the economic dimension as well as developing cooperation with the Benelux group (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). This was reported by the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry on Thursday. Earlier on Thursday Slovak Foreign and European Affairs State Secretary Lukáš Parízek at the ministry met Belgian Ambassador to Slovakia based in Vienna Willem Van de Voorde, as his tenure is about to come an end soon. Parízek thanked the ambassador for his contribution towards developing relations between Slovakia and Belgium and praised the cooperation between the two countries at the bilateral level. Parízek and Van de Voorde highlighted in particular the stable level of economic cooperation and the growth of Belgian investment in Slovakia, mainly in the automotive industry. The one-year Slovak Presidency of the V4 group takes place between July 1 2018-June 30 2019.