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Transcript of Special briefing by MEA on President's State Visit to Slovak Republic (April 10, 2025)

India - Ministry of External Affairs

April 11, 2025

Shri Rajesh Parihar, Director (XPD): Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this special media briefing about the state visit of Honorable Rashtrapati Ji to Slovakia. And for this briefing, I have with me on the dais Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs; Ms. Pooja Kapur, Additional Secretary (Central Europe), Ministry of External Affairs; Ms. Apurva Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Slovakia; and Shri Ajay Singh, the Press Secretary to the President of India. With that, I request Secretary (West) to brief the media on the visit.

Shri Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West): Thank you. Namaskar. This has been a historic state visit by President Droupadi Murmu.

It has been historic because it is taking place after a gap of nearly 30 years, and because of the strong commitment shown by both sides to take this partnership forward. I would just first run through some of the basic elements of the visit.

The delegation led by Honorable President also included Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Smt. Nimuben Bambhaniya, and two honorable Members of Parliament, Shri Dhaval Patel and Smt. Sandhya Ray.

A large business delegation also accompanied the Honorable President, around 35 members. The President met the President of Slovak Republic, His Excellency Peter Pellegrini, Prime Minister Mr. Robert Fico, the Speaker of the Parliament among the various dignitaries.

There were two MoUs that were signed during the visit. A business forum was hosted. The program also included a visit to the Tata - Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plant in Nitra, the city of Nitra.

The President was also conferred an honorary doctorate by the University, Constantine the Philosopher University, based in Nitra. And she will shortly be meeting members of the Indian community.

In terms of the details of the program elements, yesterday in the morning, a ceremonial welcome was accorded to President Murmu. A Guard of Honor was presented. This was followed by a tete-a-tete meeting between the two Presidents, and then the delegation-level talks.

The two leaders also witnessed the exchange of two Memoranda of Understanding. One of the MOUs is between the Sushma Swaraj Foreign Service Institute of India and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia. The other one is regarding cooperation in the field of small and medium enterprises between the NSIDC and the Business Slovakia.

The two leaders also delivered Press Statements yesterday. In the evening, this was the ... President of Slovakia hosted a State Banquet in honor of President Murmu.

Earlier today, the President of Slovak Republic also ... he and our President jointly addressed the business forum, which was hosted at the Foreign Ministry, where the business delegation from the FICCI was there, along with the Slovak businesspersons.

Later in the afternoon, the delegation had traveled to the historic city of Nitra, which is around 100 kilometers from Bratislava, where at the Constantine University, President Murmu was conferred honorary doctorate. It was a beautiful ceremony, where President Pellegrini was also present.

After that, the two leaders traveled to the Tata - Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plant, which is situated nearby, and the two Presidents then had a round of the manufacturing plant, where she also met the management and the workers and the staff over there, which also include a very large number of Indian workers and professionals.

This was followed by a special tree planting ceremony, where the two presidents planted linden tree, which is the national tree of Slovak Republic, in a public park, where the mayor of the city of Nitra, Mr. Marek Hattas, was also present. During the tree planting ceremony, President Murmu spoke about the initiative of Prime Minister Modi, which is the "Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam" initiative.

She described the initiative to the President of Slovak Republic, who said that ... who found this very interesting, and remarked that Slovakia too could consider undertaking such an initiative. Earlier at the ceremony for conferring the honorary doctorate, the President of Slovak Republic, His Excellency Pellegrini, mentioned in his remarks about how India was transforming into a modern nation, which was also simultaneously honoring its rich and millennia-old tradition, and that it represents a civilizational leap forward.

The visit had a strong business element, as I mentioned. If we look at the economic relations between India and Slovak Republic, trade has been growing rapidly. Over the last five years or so, the trade has tripled, and now it is in the range of 1.3 billion euros. There are investment both ways.

The Tata Group investment in the automotive sector in Slovakia is a very large investment, again in the range of around 1.3 to 1.4 billion euros. There are also investments in other sectors such as steel. Similarly, the Slovakian businesses have also invested in India in various sectors such as railways, defense, biofuel, and so on.

There is also cooperation in emerging technology spheres and other spheres such as space, AI, digital, and there was discussion on how we could explore further opportunities in sectors like cyber security and artificial intelligence. The partnership also has a strong element of talent and talent mobility. Now, there are around 6,000 Indians living and working in Slovakia, which includes students, professionals, and other workers.

There is a strong and growing element of cooperation in the field of education and research. Health and wellness was discussed as one of the areas of cooperation. Tourism is growing between our countries. This is another area where the leaders had discussed further cooperation.

If we look at the last two to three years, there have been around five ministerial interactions ... between the Foreign Ministers but also the Slovak Minister of Finance who had visited India along with a large business delegation. There have been two large business delegations from the Slovak Republic to India in recent times and currently there is a big Indian business delegation which is visiting Slovakia.

During the discussions, the President also thanked the Slovak government and people for their help during the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine under Op Ganga a couple of years back.

The India-Slovakia partnership also has relevance, and it contributes to the strengthening of the India-EU strategic partnership. Our countries also collaborate and cooperate on a number of global issues in the various multilateral fora, including the United Nations.

The Slovak President reiterated Slovakia's support for the permanent membership of the UN Security Council, and President Murmu expressed her deep appreciation for this position of Slovakia.

There are strong cultural affinities between our two countries. One of the recent developments has been the translation of Upanishads into Slovak language by a Slovak scholar, Mr. Robert Gafrik.

There was a discussion also on possible cooperation in the field of cinema. During the visit to the Parliament, there was a discussion on how there should be greater parliamentary exchanges and how they help in developing greater mutual understanding.

An interesting and unique event was earlier today when there was an art exhibition of paintings done on Indian themes by Slovak children and that was much appreciated.

There was also a Ramayana puppet show curated by a Slovak group where a large number of Slovak children enjoyed the puppet show in Slovak language, and President Murmu had also joined the show for some time.

If we look at the India-Slovakia partnership, there is a huge goodwill among the political leaders, but also at the people-to-people level. There are high-level ongoing political exchanges, growing number of ministerial and other interactions.

There are business delegations being exchanged in the recent years. Trade and investment is growing. There are other new areas of cooperation being explored. For example, digital technologies, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and other such areas.

In fact, the first satellite produced by Slovakia had been launched a few years ago on an Indian rocket, PSLV. The tourism sector is also growing from both sides.

So, this has been really a landmark visit, historic visit. It provides further momentum to this partnership, builds upon the traditional goodwill that has existed. During the discussions, it was clear as to how much there is a commonality of views on various issues of global interest, how the two countries have shared values of democracy, diversity, and a number of other global values.

There was a strong business push, along with the political commitment, where areas of trade, investment, technology, talent, all were discussed as to how to take this cooperation further. A number of ongoing areas of cooperation, ranging from automotive to steel, railways, biofuel, and defense. And as I mentioned, some new areas were discussed, both in emerging technology, but also in sectors like wellness and tourism and creative arts.

The wider context of the partnership, both in terms of the India-EU strategic partnership, where we have negotiations ongoing for finalization of an FTA, and also a ministerial trade and technology council is working and discussing a number of important areas. But also the wider multilateral UN context, there was a good discussion on all these issues.

There was also a great rapport and personal engagement between the leaders, especially the two Presidents, in various meetings.

We look forward to a further close relationship evolving between India and Slovakia as a result of this visit. Thank you.

Shri Rajesh Parihar, Director (XPD): Thank you, sir. The floor is open for questions. Jayanti?

Jayanti, DD News: Good evening, sir. I'm Jayanti from DD News. Sir, there was great emphasis on economic cooperation by both the Presidents throughout the visit. How do we see collaboration on this front going forward for the two nations, in terms of India-Slovakia ties, in terms of trade and investment?

Abhishek Shukla, PTI: Sir, I'm Abhishek from PTI. President talked about diversifying the trade baskets. Can you elaborate on what new areas we are seeking trade exchanges?

Unidentified Speaker: Regarding the bilateral trade, it's clear that we have already achieved what it was set a few years after also. But even at that level, many of the business people were telling that the potential is much, much higher. So, 1.3 billion is not a figure that we should be contended with. So, will we be revising the targets right now? And what can we expect?

And second was, Tata is a multinational in all its definitions as well. But several Indian business groups based in Bratislava, they were of the opinion that there are enough opportunities for the mid-size companies to come in, which is currently not so active, because there seems to be a need for a push for further awareness about Slovakia. That's what they suggested.

Alex Patakash, News Agency of the Slovak Republic: Alex Patakash, News Agency of the Slovak Republic. I would like to have one question about the UN. Mr. President Pellegrini supported India's permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Could maybe in the future Slovakia receive support from India about the non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council in the future? Thank you.

Shri Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West): I think three of the questions basically relate to the economic sphere, and specifically about the SMEs and their role in taking the trade investment forward. Yes, there is a focus on that. One of the MOUs that was signed was actually on how to promote these linkages through greater B2B interaction, trade exhibitions, delegations, visits and so on ... participation in exhibitions, sector-specific exhibitions and so on.

That is an area where we need to work on, and that has obviously great potential. We also hope that the MOU that was signed between the NSIC and the Slovak Business will also contribute to facilitating these exchanges.

The trade figures have gone up. There is a very strong encouraging trend. As I mentioned, there is also the negotiations going on for the larger India EU FTA, and that also will, as you would remember in the recent visit of the College of Commissioners to India led by the EC President Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, the two leaders had decided that ... had directed their teams to finalize the FTA before the end of this year. That again will have a huge bearing on our individual Bilateral Trade with various European partners, including Slovakia.

The Indian business delegation that is visiting here actually represents a wide range of sectors, for example, ranging from renewable energy to waste water and waste management, AYUSH, traditional medicine, IT, AI, automotive, also FinTech. So, there is an interest in a large number of areas. Slovakia has a long-standing tradition of engineering and manufacturing, so some of those areas will continue.

As I mentioned, the Slovak companies are present in India in a number of sectors, including engineering, including railways and so on. So, we are very hopeful that the entire range of business sectors will continue to expand, and many of the newer emerging technology areas will also see collaboration in that.

On the UN Security Council, the Slovak candidature for the non-permanent seat, if I understood correctly. Yes, this was mentioned, and I am sure there will be due consideration according to this proposal. And there was a discussion on how on a number of areas in the multilateral context the collaboration is ongoing, and the election of various candidatures, etc., is part of that also. So that will continue.

Shri Rajesh Parihar, Director (XPD): Thank you, sir. This brings us to the end of this press briefing. Thank you, sir. Thanks, everyone. The briefing is over.

Bratislava
April 10, 2025