wfn.org | Slovak Prime Minister welcomes LWF Council to Bratislava

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Government is committed to promotion of human rights
Press Release No. 03/99

BRATISLAVA, Slovak Republic, 22 June 1999 (lwi) - The Slovak Republic
Prime Minister Mikul s Dzurinda officially welcomed the 1999 Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) Council to the capital Bratislava and thanked the
federation for holding its meeting in the Slovak Republic.

Addressing the more than 180 participants who included the 49-member
Council of the LWF which is meeting here for the first time, the prime
minister said the Slovak government is constantly working on improving
relations between the state and the church.

Describing this nation of over 5.3 million people as a pluralistic
society, he said the Slovak Republic is committed to promoting human
rights and working towards building a society in which all minority
members feel welcome.

The Slovak Republic, which was established as an independent state in
1993, is working on gaining membership with the rest of Europe, the
government representative said.

Responding to the prime minister's remarks, the LWF president, Bishop
Christian Krause, said the federation is encouraged by the fact that the
Slovak Republic is trying to integrate into the rest of Europe, and
expressed hope that the churches too can be part of this integration.

Earlier on when the LWF Council host church - Evangelical Church of the
Augsburg Confession in the Slovak Republic - Bishop Julius Filo
introduced the prime minister to the LWF meeting, he said the Slovak
Lutherans are proud that the Council is taking place in this country and
the region. "After the Budapest Assembly (1984), this is the next
largest meeting of its kind in this part of Europe," Filo who is also
one of the vice-presidents of the LWF said.

(The LWF is a global communion of 124 member churches in 69 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. The LWF's
highest decision-making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council,
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee.)

*       *       *
Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/