President of the Slovak Republic Spoke at the Conference about Priorities of the Slovak Foreign Policy

President of the Slovak Republic Ivan Gašparovič attended the 7th Reviewing Conference of the Slovak Republic Foreign Policy which focused on priorities and tools of the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic in 2005.

The conference was held at the Foreign Ministry of the Slovak Republic. It was co-organized by the Research Centre of the Slovak Society for Foreign Policy, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. In his speech, President Ivan Gašparovič presented his view of the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic. „After thirteen years of independence of the Slovak Republic, the Slovak foreign policy can be considered to be integrated, well-balanced and continual”.

He also mentioned the balanced position of both, the coalition and the opposition regarding the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic. Slovakia has become a member of major international institutions, such as the EU, NATO, and OECD, and it has also become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the next two years.

President Ivan Gašparovič emphasized that in preparing his foreign trips he attaches great importance to including Slovak businessmen in his delegation, as this is the way how they can take advantage of the trips to further develop business contacts and investment ideas. President Ivan Gašparovič explained to the audience including diplomats his position to preferring career diplomats to party nominees to diplomatic posts of the Slovak Republic abroad.

 Then the Slovak President called on a broader discussion about the future of the EU, the future shape of the EU as well as the Constitutional Treaty for Europe. „Our foreign policy is many times passive, and we just tend to adjust to the opinion of the majority of the countries,“ said President Gašparovič. According to him, our diplomacy could be more active, and offer its view of the world development.

At the conference, President SR also took a critical point of view of some changes in the structure of diplomatic missions and representation offices of the Slovak Republic abroad. „ We have closed our embassies or consulates in many important places … I think the attention we pay to ethnic Slovaks living abroad is far from being satisfactory. In this respect, we do very little in comparison with our neighbouring countries, “ stated Ivan Gašparovič.

In his speech, he also expressed some worries over the development in our biggest neighbour – in the Ukraine. The Slovak President underlined the need to be prepared for some political turbulence which can occur in the Ukraine in connection with the political and economic development in the country. Moreover, President Ivan Gašparovič emphasized the threat of global terrorism. He pointed out the importance of the Slovak membership in the EU.

However, at the same time he recalled that the country should not give up its sovereignty or render its important competencies to the European Commission. At the conference, President Ivan Gašparovič clearly expressed his satisfaction with the work of the Slovak mission to the UN which finally resulted in Slovakia’s becoming a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. „We managed to show that we are a competent partner of the world superpowers, that by our membership in the UN Security Council we can contribute to solving world problems,“ said the President of the Slovak Republic.

His address included also the issue of the tourism potential of the Slovak Republic which is still not utilized as it could be. He said that the tourism is one of Slovak possibilities to decrease the unemployment rate, and increase investment opportunities in some regions of Slovakia. As the Slovak President said, this problem deserves to be paid much more attention.

At the end of his address, President Ivan Gašparovič ensured foreign diplomats that the upcoming parliamentary elections in Slovakia represent no threat. On the contrary, they can bring a new perspective of further development of the country and continuation of the foreign policy of Slovakia.