Press Advisories

22. 6. 2017 20:22

Prime Minister Sobotka debated in Brno with premiers of Austria, Mr. Kern, and Slovakia, Mr. Fico

Prime Minister Sobotka had a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Kern and Slovak Prime Minister Fico on 22 June 2017.
Prime Minister Sobotka had a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Kern and Slovak Prime Minister Fico on 22 June 2017.
On Thursday, 22 June 2017, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Bohuslav Sobotka, met the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico, and Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Christian Kern, in Brno. The main topic of the second summit in the so-called Slavkov format was a detailed discussion of the work plan for 2017, which includes a specific cooperation between these three neighbouring countries in the fields of transport, dual education, power engineering, Industry 4.0 and EU affairs.

Prime Minister Sobotka thanked his counterparts for the continuation of the tripartite cooperation in the Slavkov format, which was set up in January 2015 in Slavkov u Brna by adopting a joint declaration. The main topic of the meeting was a detailed discussion of the 2017 work plan for cooperation.

"The cooperation of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria works very well at the level of individual ministries. I believe that a meeting at the level of prime ministers will provide a new and strong impetus for the continuation of this friendly regional format of cooperation in central Europe, which we are keen to keep developing. During the negotiations, we discussed together the individual chapters of the work plan for this calendar year - transport, power engineering, dual education, Industry 4.0 and EU affairs, “said Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.

A major issue was the transport sector where, according to Prime Minister Sobotka, high-quality transport links have a direct impact on the economic development of the central European region and the triangular cooperation brings a possibility of coordination of the modernisation and development of railway lines or the completion of the priority road connection in the direction of Prague-Linz and Brno-Mikulov-Vienna.

One of the areas discussed was also the sharing of experience with the introduction of dual education since the adaptation of vocational education to the contemporary needs of the economy is an important element for the continuation of the economic growth of the Czech Republic.

Another theme of the Slavkov format was a cooperation in the field of ​​industry digitisation and the fourth industrial revolution. The Czech Republic is a traditional industrial country and digitisation will have a quite significant impact on the Czech economy and the competitiveness of our country.

The prime ministers also discussed the European Union affairs. Namely, they talked about the future of the EU, the unity and cohesion of the twenty-seven, the support for convergence, the budget, the future of the internal market and Brexit in the context of the forthcoming European Council session, to which the prime ministers will travel after the meeting in Brno. They also debated about the resolution of the migration crisis.

The Thursday trilateral meeting of the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Austria followed up the first meeting in this format, which was held in Slavkov u Brna in January 2015. This format of regional cooperation is therefore informally referred to as the Slavkov format.

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