UK Ambassador to Slovenia meets Slovenian Foreign Minister ahead of the UK's departure from the EU
HMA Sophie Honey met with Foreign Minister Miro Cerar to discuss the UK’s departure from the EU and the shared goal of strengthening the bilateral relationship.
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ENGLISH:
UK Ambassador to Slovenia, Sophie Honey, met today with Foreign Minister Miro Cerar. They discussed the UK’s departure from the EU, on 31st January 2020 and the shared goal of further building our strong bilateral relationship.
Following the meeting the Ambassador said: “It was good to meet with Foreign Minister Cerar at this historic moment for the UK’s relationship with the EU. We remain strongly committed to growing our close bilateral relationship. The UK and Slovenia are partners in the fields of defence and security, trade, education, science and research. Our people share strong ties, and we have many shared interests and values. In particular we agreed on the need to work more closely together on climate change.”
“I am grateful to the Foreign Minister and colleagues across the Slovene government for their partnership in preparing for an orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU, including through assuring reciprocal respect for the rights of our citizens. We agreed that citizens will continue to be a priority for both of us and that the Withdrawal Agreement protects the rights of Brits living in Slovenia and Slovenes living in the UK.
“The UK wants a positive new partnership between the UK and EU, building on our common bonds of friendship and cooperation. We look forward to constructive negotiations to that end in the year ahead.”
The UK and Slovenia have a long-standing bilateral relationship. 2019 was an especially important year for bilateral ties between the UK and Slovenia: President Pahor met with Her Majesty the Queen, and launched Slovenia-UK Friendship Day with Prince Edward. Business partnerships continued to drive strong trade in both directions, which had hit nearly £1.5bn combined trade in goods and services – a growth rate of nearly 13% in the last three years. The volume of scientific research collaboration has approximately doubled over the past decade. Security and defence cooperation continued to strengthen, including through joint training and workshops on recruiting and retaining the best people. And the British and Slovene people continued to build deep connections, including through education, culture, and research. In 2020 the British Embassy in Ljubljana plans to continue to build on this growth, with further plans to be announced in due course.
SLOVENE:
V luči jutrišnjega izstopa Združenega kraljestva Velike Britanije in Severne Irske iz Evropske unije kot država članica, se je britanska veleposlanica Sophie Honey danes sestala s slovenskim zunanjim ministrom, dr. Mirom Cerarjem. Govorila sta o Brexitu, predvsem pa o skupnem cilju nadaljevati odlične bilateralne odnose.
Veleposlanica je ob srečanju povedala: “Veseli me, da sem se srečala z zunanjim ministrom dr. Cerarjem v tem zgodovinskem trenutku za odnose med Združenim kraljestvom in Evropsko unijo. A odnosi med našima državama presegajo članstvo v evropski povezavi. Državi sta partnerici na področjih obrambe in varnosti, trgovine, izobraževanja, znanosti in raziskav in z ministrom sva glede nadaljevanja močnega partnerstva enotna. Delimo mnoge skupne interese in vrednote, pred nami so izzivi, ki jih bomo naslavljali skupaj, med njimi tudi podnebne spremembe,” in nadaljevala “Hvaležna sem zunanjemu ministrstvu in slovenski vladi širše za sodelovanje pri oblikovanju podrobnosti v izstopnem sporazumu, predvsem v delu o zagotovitvi recipročnost spoštovanja pravic državljanov.” Dodala je še, da si bo v prehodnem obdobju do konca letošnjega leta Združeno kraljestvo prizadevalo za “pozitivno novo partnerstvo z EU, ki bo temeljilo na skupnih prijateljskih odnosih in sodelovanju.”
Kljub dolgoletnemu zavezništvu in partnerstvu, pa je bilo leto 2019 še posebej pomembno za dvostranske vezi med Združenim kraljestvom in Slovenijo. Trgovinska izmenjava med državama je dosegla skoraj milijardo in pol evrov v blagu in storitvah, kar je velik napredek. V zadnjih teh letih številke sicer kažejo 13-odstotno rast, na področju medicine, fizike in raziskovanja vesolja, so se znanstvene raziskave vezane na obe državi podvojile. Turizem raste. Na diplomatski ravni se je predsednik Republike Borut Pahor srečal z Njenim kraljevim visočanstvom, kraljico Elizabeto II., kasneje pa v Sloveniji s princem Edwardom obeležil Dan prijateljstva med Združenim kraljestvom in Slovenijo.