US AMBASSADOR to Slovakia Theodore Sedgwick met Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radičová on January 16 to inform her about his country’s new defence strategy, as unveiled by President Barack Obama earlier in the month. The document focuses on the Pacific region, yet still considers European countries to be the United States’ most important allies, the SITA newswire reported.
Sedgwick told Radičová, who is also acting defence minister, that Slovakia is still an important security partner for the United States. He explained that for his country it is important to present the strategy to allies and that it is looking forward to their feedback. He said he considers the cooperation between both countries to be excellent and thanked her for the support which Slovakia provides to the US in crisis management operations.
Radičová responded that she appreciates the US informing Slovakia about its defence strategy, stating that it is not the country’s size but its position in NATO, fulfilling its obligations and being a reliable partner that matters.
“In the same manner as the US approached its new strategic defence review, Slovakia is preparing such a review and defining priorities for the future,” Radičová said, as quoted by SITA.
Although she expressed regret that the early parliamentary elections had postponed the completion of this work, she stressed that it had been a responsible decision to allow the strategy to be defined by the government that emerges from the elections in March.
She also underlined that Slovakia supports the NATO initiative on so-called intelligent defence and would like to participate in its new strategic planning, SITA wrote.
