President Murmu's Slovakia Visit: Strengthening India-EU Ties

Bratislava (Slovakia), Apr 9 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu arrived here Wednesday in the second leg of her two-nation State visit, becoming only the second Indian Head of State to visit the Slovak Republic.

The president landed in Vienna after concluding her State visit to Portugal and took a road route to reach Bratislava, the capital of Slovakian, in the middle of the night.

During her two-day stay in Slovakia, President Murmu will hold delegation-level talks and meet with President Peter Pellegrini, Prime Minister Robert Fico and National Council Speaker Richard Rasi.

The last time an Indian President visited Slovakia was 29 years ago. Murmu becomes only the second Indian President to visit the Central European Country.

"There are deep connections, especially with Sanskrit studies in Slovakia. Mahatma Gandhi's works have been translated into Slovak, and Slovakia offered valuable support during the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine in 2022," External Affairs Ministry Secretary (West) Tanmaya Lal told a media briefing on April 4.

India-Slovakia relations are also important in the context of India-EU partnership, he said.


In fact, Slovakia had joined the European Union at the time when India and EU had launched the strategic partnership, he had said.

During President Murmu's time in Slovakia, a key highlight will be her visit to the state-of-the-art Tata Motors Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) facility in Nitra, a testament to the strong industrial ties between the two nations.

Inaugurated in 2018 with an investment of 1.4 billion Euros, the JLR plant has a capacity to produce 150,000 vehicles annually.

The President arrived here after concluding her two-day State visit to Portugal during which she held discussions with the country's top leadership and engaged with the Indian diaspora, "carrying forward the strong momentum of high level engagements" between the two nations.

Lal had said on April 4, "So with Slovakia also, there is a strong political momentum. At the same time, business engagement is going … there is an exchange of business delegations. There is significant investment by Indian companies in Slovakia in a range of sectors from automobiles and engineering to IT."

There are long-standing defense ties as well between the two countries.