Bratislava, 25 November 2024 – State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Marek Eštok today received at the Department of Diplomacy the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Australia to the Slovak Republic based in Vienna, Ian Biggs. The meeting confirmed the mutual interest of both countries in developing political dialogue and a mutually beneficial economic, trade and investment partnership. The planned reopening of the Slovak Embassy in Canberra, which was approved by the Slovak Government this year, should also help Slovak-Australian development.
“I thanked the Australian side for their cooperation in this regard. We have a lot of untapped opportunities for cooperation in areas such as education and the defence industry. Our embassy will play a very important role in fulfilling this potential,” said M. Eštok, who at the meeting also asked for Slovakia to be included in the list of destinations of the Australian trade mission when visiting other countries of the European Union.
Slovak exports of passenger cars play a major role in mutual trade. However, according to M. Estok, a complication is the high Australian tax and duty on luxury cars – the import of such vehicles is burdened with an additional tax of 33%: “Almost three quarters of Slovakia’s exports to Australia are passenger cars, mainly SUVs. The imposition of the tax has a significantly negative impact on Slovak exports.”
The meeting also focused on the activities of Slovakia and Australia in international organisations, especially at the United Nations, including support for candidacies to the UN Security Council. The partners also discussed Australia’s negotiations with the European Union on a free trade agreement. Negotiations, which have Slovak support, started in 2018, but the issue of Australia’s access to the EU agricultural market remains a problem. An important topic was the current international situation in the world, especially concerning the Indo-Pacific region or the conflict in Ukraine. It is the Slovak border regions that could serve as a logistics hub for Australian companies in the future reconstruction of Ukraine. Source.
