London, March 19, 2019. Marek Sobola met with Her Excellency, Hon. Titilupe Fanetupouvava’u Tuita Tu’ivakano, High Commissioner of Tonga to the United Kingdom. The meeting was mediated by the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in London and was also attended by His Excellency, Mr. Ľubomír Rehák, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic to the Court of St. James´s in London. After a kind welcome on the ground of Tonga the meeting was opened in a very friendly atmosphere. Subsequently started a discussion about projects that brings together our geographically remote countries. On the other hand, there is an interesting historic link between Slovakia and this Polynesian country. In 1911 the Vava’u Island was visited by Slovak astronomer Milan Rastislav Štefánik. He came there as a member of a French scientific astronomical expedition. He stayed for almost four months in the Kingdom. He was observing a total solar eclipse on a low hill in Vava’u Island near the administrative center Neiafu. Until today, two concrete pedestals are preserved on this low hill – pylons with Štefánik´s name (for astronomers served as tripods).

The first of the topics discussed was the project “Tree of Peace”. The second topic concerned the heraldic matter. Marek Sobola offered High Commissioner the design of the new coat of arms of Nukuʻalofa as a free project for this beautiful and interesting country. Nukuʻalofa is the capital of Tonga. It is located on the north coast of the island of Tongatapu, in the southernmost island group of Tonga.