Poland's Andrzej Duda, the Czech Republic's Petr Pavel, Slovakia's Zuzana Čaputová and Hungary's Katalin Novák held their summit at Prague Castle in the Czech capital, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.
The four presidents discussed support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's ongoing invasion, the Israel-Hamas conflict and the future of the EU, according to officials.
At a joint news conference afterwards, the Polish president said that one of the main topics of the discussion was cooperation as part of the regional Visegrad Group (V4) and its financial arm, the International Visegrad Fund.
Duda told reporters that the Hungarian president had proposed to increase the fund and that the four partner countries would consider the plan.
The Polish president said that the International Visegrad Fund was helping "boost innovativeness and creativity, and create opportunities for young people" in the region.
Duda told reporters that he and his Czech, Slovak and Hungarian counterparts had also discussed "the expansion of infrastructure, economic development and measures to increase regional security."
He added that "new roads and railway links boost not just development, but also regional security," citing new transport links that "allow the shipment of assistance from Baltic ports to Ukraine," Polish Radio's polskieradio24.pl website reported.
The Polish president said that Wednesday's summit also focused on "further support to Ukraine," amid the Russian invasion.
Duda said the four heads of state agreed that "Ukraine needs constant support and we must support Ukraine."
He revealed that other topics included energy security and climate protection ahead of the United Nations' COP28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates later this month.
The four-nation Visegrad Group (V4) is a regional cooperation platform that brings together Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Wednesday is day 637 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl, polskieradio24.pl, wnp.pl