Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays India’s first-ever state visit to Slovakia, elevating bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Partnership with agreements spanning defence, digital technologies, labour migration and trade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a State Visit to the Slovak Republic on June 15, 2026, at the invitation of Prime Minister Robert Fico- the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Slovakia since the country’s independence in 1993. The two sides agreed to elevate their bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership, aimed at strengthening existing cooperation mechanisms and exploring new avenues for engagement bilaterally and multilaterally.
Slovakia reaffirmed its support for India’s permanent membership in a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council and its constructive approach towards India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Both leaders condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, 2025, and agreed to establish a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, calling for the early finalisation of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism within the United Nations framework. Both sides welcomed the conclusion of India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations in January 2026 and called for its early signing and timely implementation.
Key agreements signed during the visit include a Letter of Intent on Defence Cooperation; a Memorandum of Cooperation on critical infrastructure protection and post-quantum cryptography; a Memorandum of Understanding on Digital Technologies covering artificial intelligence, semiconductors, 5G use cases, 6G standardisation, IoT and M2M applications; a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Labour Migration; a Memorandum of Understanding between the respective Ministries of Education in the field of higher education and research; and a Memorandum of Understanding on Audio-visual Creation.
Both leaders agreed to strengthen the India-Slovakia Joint Economic Committee and to enhance bilateral trade and investment across sectors including automotive, electronics and advanced manufacturing, leveraging Slovakia’s industrial ecosystem and India’s scale and innovation capabilities. Connectivity was identified as a strategic pillar, with both sides encouraging joint ventures and technology transfer in the automotive and railway sectors, and exploration of direct air connectivity between the two countries.
Cooperation in nuclear energy and geothermal power was agreed upon, along with collaboration on meteorology, hydrology and climate-resilient rural water infrastructure. Both sides expressed intent to deepen collaboration in space satellite technology and to promote exchanges between scientific and research institutions.
The two sides took note of the Comprehensive Framework of Cooperation on Mobility agreed between India and the EU in January 2026 and agreed to work towards the early conclusion of a Social Security Agreement to safeguard the welfare of working professionals. Both leaders also agreed to cooperate with regional groupings including the Slavkov 3, Visegrad 4 and 3 Seas Initiative, noting Slovakia’s position as a Central European transport hub as a factor of mutual strategic interest.
Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)
