On February 22, 2017 there was the meeting of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia to Ukraine Nataša Prah with the students of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv during which the diplomat told about the dynamics of the political and economic relations between Ukraine and Slovenia.
Nataša Prah outlined the principal foreign political aspects of developing Slovenia from the time of gaining independence in 1991 and analyzed the transformations of the country on its way to the membership in the European Union and NATO. The Ambassador focused special attention on the main problems and challenges the EU and NATO faced nowadays.
In her speech, Nataša Prah also analyzed in details the dynamics of developing Ukrainian and Slovenian relations. In particular, the diplomat noted that the political relations between the countries officially appeared from the time when the first agreement on cooperation had been signed on March 10, 1992.
The political relations between Ukraine and Slovenia became closer after the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 and the beginning of the war in the east of Ukraine. Nataša Prah emphasized on the fact that Slovenia had been the first country to declare officially about the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Slovenia also noted that close economic relations as well as enhanced cooperation in the field of alternative energy were adjusted at the moment. Slovenia supports the liberalization of the visa regime for Ukraine and shares its experience in the sphere of fighting against corruption and administrative sphere. It is important that perspective educational and cultural ties between both countries have been established.
In addition, the Ambassador noted that Slovenia actively assisted Ukraine in the humanitarian sphere (it takes part in the rehabilitation of the participants of the military conflict in the east of Ukraine as well as the children from Chernobyl zone and children of the participants of the Ukrainian-Russian military conflict).
Nataša Prah assured that Slovenia actively supported Ukraine in all institutions of the European Union.
Since 2008, the Slovenian language has been functioning at Lviv University in which various cultural events are held annually, dictionaries and translations of Slovenian writers’ works are published.
In 2014, Slovenian studies were introduced at the department of Slavic philology. During the meeting with the Rector of Lviv University, Professor Volodymyr Melnyk, Nataša Prah expressed her gratitude to Lviv University for the promotion of Slovenian studies in Ukraine.