Slovakia to aid Ukraine with reforms

The Visegrad Four countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) will provide aid towards Ukraine's reforms, with each country offering assistance in its own selected sphere, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák said during the visit of V4 representatives to Kiev on Tuesday. The joint V4 visit to Ukraine was organised at the initiative of Slovakia, which currently chairs the group. The Czech Republic was represented by Foreign Minister Ľubomír Zaorálek, Poland by counterpart Grzegorz Schetyna and Hungary by Foreign Affairs Ministry state secretary László Szabó. The delegates met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Verkhovna Rada (parliament) vice-chair Oksana Syroyid. The purpose of the visit was to provide specific aid with the reforms as well as to confirm the support for Ukraine in the process of seeking political resolution of the conflict in the country's eastern regions. According to Lajčák, Slovakia will take auspices over the reforms in the sphere of energy security and the security sector, the Czech Republic in the building of civic society, media and education, and Poland in the field of decentralisation of regional and municipal administration and public finance reform, whereas Hungary will help with the support of small and medium-sized companies.