Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok held bilateral talks with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Euroasian Affairs Karen Donfried on the sidelines of a Bucharest Nine summit taking place in Bratislava on Thursday. The talks confirmed the strategic level of US-Slovak ties, as indicated by a recent signing of the US-Slovak Defence Cooperation Agreement, set to come into effect as of April 1, 2022. Both Korcok and Donfried concurred that the current situation in Ukraine is a definitive "wake-up call" for the whole of Europe and the actions of the Russian Federation will have far-reaching impacts also for Slovakia in all spheres, including the energy dimension. "An inevitable measure to be taken in the following period, both by Europe and Slovakia, will be the removal of dependency on Russian energy," added Korcok. Also discussed was the humanitarian situation regarding the refugee crisis in the wake of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Ivan Korcok also met with NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana on the sidelines of a Bucharest Nine (B9) summit. The talks between Korcok and Geoana revolved around NATO measures in reaction to the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the bolstering of NATO military presence on its eastern border. Also discussed was the preparation for a NATO summit in Madrid, the new NATO Strategic Concept, the bolstering of NATO's resilience and strategic cooperation between NATO and the EU. Korcok and the NATO Deputy Secretary-General also assessed 18 years of Slovakia's membership of the alliance and the development of Euro-Atlantic security infrastructure as well as NATO's critical role in it. "The alliance is now more united than ever and we also want it to be stronger than ever before," stated Korcok. Geoana praised Slovakia's investments and the modernisation of its defence as well as its contributions to the NATO collective defence and international crisis management missions.
Source: TASR
