US President Barack Obama deserves our thanks for his sincere efforts to make the world a better place, Slovak President Andrej Kiska posted on his Twitter account on Friday. Meanwhile, he wished a successful term in office to the incoming president, Donald Trump.
In connection with Friday's inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that if Donald Trump fulfils the pledges he made during his election campaign, the change in the post of the US president might bring positives.
The Slovak prime minister went on to say that he hopes that Trump's idea of good ties between the USA and Russia comes true because, as he put it, "If there is a balance between the superpowers, there is more stability in the world." He is also curious whether Trump's words on lower United States involvement and a smaller military presence in Europe will come true. He also said it would be interesting to watch what the EU would do if Trump decided to scrap sanctions against Russia. "Then it would show to what extent we [the EU] are or are not flunkies of the USA," said Fico, who reiterated that he finds the sanctions senseless.
In a written statement, the Foreign Ministry voiced its determination to continue the further development of mutual ties with the USA as well as to bolster the Trans-Atlantic partnership necessary to maintain stability, security and democracy in the broader Euro-Atlantic context. "We congratulate the incoming President and wish him a lot of strength and successes in exercising his challenging mandate," said the ministry. It underlined that the United States are a strategic partner and one of the closest allies to Slovakia. The most crucial component of bilingual ties is the shared NATO membership. "We'd like to continue our close cooperation in maintaining its credibility and combat-readiness, which we view as the main guarantee of Slovakia's security," stated the Ministry. Furthermore, Slovakia supports talks on EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in the spirit of mutual benefits, economic growth and improvement of standards.
