Press Releases

16. 6. 200818:22

Prague, June 15 – 16, 2008: Official summit of the Prime Ministers of Visegrad Group countries

The Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic Mirek Topolánek, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary Ferenc Gyurcsány, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland Donald Tusk and the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico met on the official summit of the Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Group countries in Prague on the 15th and 16th June 2008.
The heads of governments of the V4 countries evaluated the Czech Presidency in the Visegrad Group (June 2007 – June 2008) and the V4+ formats, the inter-ministerial cooperation and the activities of the International Visegrad Fund (IVF). The Executive Director of the IVF, Mr. Kristóf Forrai, presented the increase of the IVF activities since 2007, when the annual IVF budget has reached 5 mil. EUR.
The Presidency of the Visegrad Group was officially handed over to Poland and the Programme of the upcoming Polish Presidency was presented and endorsed.
Among the topics of the meeting were also preparations for the Czech Presidency in the Council of the EU, with special attention to the Visegrad cooperation priorities.
The Prime Ministers supported the idea of strenghtening the Eastern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy and agreed that the “Eastern Partnership” is a good way forward. They also discussed regional cooperation in the fields of EU enlargement, support to the Western Balkans and Eastern European issues in general.
The Visegrad Group countries also mentioned the opportunity to jointly commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain and the 5th anniversary of the V4 countries´ entry into the EU during the next year.

Prague, the 16th June 2008