Foreign Minister Commemorates UN Peacekeepers Day, Honours Veterans

Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer-SD) marked the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, also known as Blue Helmets Day, by meeting Pavol Marko, President of the Slovak Union of War Veterans. The international observance falls on 29 May. According to the minister, work commitments prevented him from attending earlier.

At a press conference, he informed that Slovakia has participated in 16 peacekeeping missions across four continents with more than 13,000 servicemen and servicewomen as well as police officers taking part.

Blanár expressed confidence that peace will once again become a value for which everyone is willing to devote effort and make personal sacrifices. Slovakia also intends to promote this goal at the United Nations as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

Marko welcomed the fact that Blanár had received war veterans at the ministry. "Modern Slovak war veterans are people who have lived through all of this and, in many ways, continue to do so today. Perhaps not in the same way as during the conflicts of the 1990s, the UNPROFOR mission, or operations in Afghanistan and Iraq under the NATO flag. Nevertheless, these were areas where life was genuinely exposed to danger every day," he said.

Source: TASR