India and Slovakia elevate bilateral ties to ‘comprehensive partnership’

4 min readNew DelhiJun 16, 2026 02:38 AM IST

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini presents The Order of the White Double Cross (1st Class), the highest state honour of Slovakia, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Bratislava on Monday. (ANI)

INDIA AND Slovakia elevated their bilateral ties to “comprehensive partnership”, and signed pacts on labour migration, defence, digital technologies, higher education and research, quantum communication and student exchange programme with IIT Delhi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico on Monday.

The comprehensive partnership aims to take bilateral relations to a new level, strengthen existing cooperation mechanisms and explore new avenues for deepening cooperation, both bilaterally and multilaterally, the joint statement said.

After meeting PM Fico in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava, Modi said, “India and Slovakia are also moving forward in close coordination on the global stage. We agree that all disputes and tensions should be resolved peacefully. We will continue to work together with all partners in this direction.” This was a reference to the Russia-Ukraine war, which has been ongoing in Slovakia’s neighbourhood for more than four years now.

The two sides also established a joint working group in counter-terrorism and a consular dialogue. Modi’s visit is the first by an Indian PM to Slovakia since its independence in 1993.

“Today, the Prime Minister (Fico) and I held detailed discussions on giving new direction and fresh momentum to our cooperation. The progress achieved in our bilateral trade and economic cooperation is a source of satisfaction for us. However, our potential is immense, and our aspirations are even greater. Automobiles, railways, advanced manufacturing, and green technologies are areas of particular interest to us… we have taken several significant decisions today — leveraging our respective strengths — for the welfare of the people of both nations,” Modi said.

Expressing gratitude to Slovakia for its support in finalising the India-EU FTA, PM Modi said: “We will work towards its early implementation so that industries, startups and traders in both countries can derive maximum benefit from it.”

On defence cooperation, he said, “It is a testament to our deep mutual trust and strategic convergence. I am pleased that we signed a Letter of Intent in this vital sector today. This will impart new momentum to joint development, joint production and collaboration between our defence industries.” Many Indian companies in the recent past have signed pacts with Slovak defence companies for joint manufacture in the fields of artillery and armoured systems.

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On terrorism, the joint statement said the two leaders “unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack perpetrated in Pahalgam, J&K, on April 22, 2025…they called for concerted international efforts to combat terrorism in a… sustained manner”.

The statement said the two leaders agreed to enhance cooperation in the energy sector with a view to promote “energy security, sustainability and resilience through diversification of energy sources, including nuclear energy and geothermal power”. They expressed their intent to deepen collaboration through joint research, exchange of expertise and capacity-building initiatives in areas of mutual interest. This is especially relevant amid the current situation in West Asia, which has led to an energy crisis in the world.

The two sides also agreed to explore avenues to significantly enhance bilateral trade and two-way investment across sectors such as “automotive, electronics and other advanced manufacturing industries”, leveraging “Slovakia’s well-developed industrial ecosystem” and India’s scale, innovation ecosystem and technological capabilities.

On migration of Indians, the joint statement said the leaders expressed support for orderly, safe and legal mobility of skilled professionals. “They took note of the Comprehensive Framework of Cooperation on Mobility agreed between India and the European Union in January 2026. They welcomed the signing of the MoU on Cooperation in the field of labour migration to facilitate mobility and promote the exchange of information… The two sides also agreed to work towards the early conclusion of a Social Security Agreement, which would contribute to safeguarding the welfare and social protection of working professionals engaged in mobility between India and Slovakia.”

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Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

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