President Zuzana Čaputová attended the NATO summit in Vilnius on 11 and 12 July 2023.

According to the President, the NATO summit brought an unparalleled level of protection and security. After the summit, she stressed that Slovakia is part of a group of countries that will provide us with defence assistance if necessary. "For me, this summit was above all about protecting our Slovak interests on the eastern border of the North Atlantic Alliance. The Vilnius Summit brought a level of protection and security for our citizens that we have never had before." The leaders approved new defence plans covering our territory and allocated specific forces that would come to the defence of our region in the event of a deterioration of the security situation.

"This means that after today it will be clearer who would help protect us, how, when and in what way in case our security and our territorial integrity is compromised. Spain has decided to send troops to Slovakia next year under an existing mandate, approved by our Parliament, to gradually replace the Czech Republic's leadership. What I consider particularly important is that we have agreed on how to deploy air defence capabilities on the eastern border so that the deployment of equipment throughout the region is coordinated and corresponds to the current level of security risk."

However, the new security situation caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine also requires additional capabilities, according to the President. "In Vilnius, we have thus supported the increase of defence industry production capacities, which I consider to be good news not only for our security, but also for our enterprises and employment in them. We all agreed that spending 2% of GDP on defence should be a minimum for Alliance members. Slovakia has been meeting this commitment already and it remains an incomparably cheaper means of protecting our security than if we were not members of the Alliance having to protect ourselves."

The President appreciated that the Vilnius Summit had brought Sweden closer to membership and that its final accession would be a matter of near time. Because, similar to Finland's accession, which has already occurred, Sweden joining the Alliance will be a clear benefit for our common security.

 
"No decision has been made at this summit about Ukraine joining the Alliance - the decision to join NATO one day was taken by the leaders in Bucharest back in 2008. But in Vilnius we decided that before that happens, we will take political and practical relations with Ukraine to a new and higher level. The new NATO-Ukraine Council, which met today for the first time ever in the personal presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is the fulfilment of this vision. This Council is intended to help Kiev prepare for future membership when conditions would permit it and the Member States so decide. Not one of the forty leaders present had opened the notion that Ukraine should be a kind of buffer zone, as we sometimes hear at home. In fact, Ukraine has been a buffer zone for years. So much so that, for the second time in eight years, Russian troops have dared to forcefully enter its territory with the intention of usurping more territory.” It is this current state of affairs, according to the President, which is not at all conducive to security, peace or prosperity in Europe. On the contrary, the only thing that this state of affairs is causing is human suffering, enormous economic damage and a worsening of the security situation in Europe and in the world.

During the summit, the President also held talks with the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and with the President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. Canada, like Slovakia, is facing a flood of disinformation - while Russia is the most common source here, much of it in Canada comes from China. "We agreed to exchange experiences and cooperate in this area as well, because it is closely tied to our security."

During the Vilnius summit, the President discussed with President Yoon Suk Yeol how to take our strong trade and relations to a strategic partnership. "In addition to strengthening cooperation in technologies such as artificial intelligence, hydrogen mobility and sustainable mobility, we also see room to strengthen our security cooperation based on the Memorandum of Defence Cooperation signed last year. Slovakia may also be interesting for Korean companies that are preparing to participate in the rebuilding of Ukraine."