US President Donald Trump chose a central European country as the venue for his second visit to the old continent, which attests to the fact that he perceives central European states as important partners of America, said Slovak President Andrej Kiska after a meeting of presidents representing countries of the Three Seas Initiative in Warsaw on Thursday.
The Three Seas initiative includes 12 states located between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas. According to Kiska, Trump emphasised at the meeting that the EU is the USA's closest and best ally and that, reciprocally, the EU holds the same stance.
Energy issues took up considerable time in the discussion between the Three Seas presidents and Trump. Kiska stated that the first delivery of liquefied gas arrived in Poland from the USA in June, and he praised such a diversification of energy sources in his speech. "Energy is often used to blackmail other states," Kiska added, pointing to the 2009 gas crisis which affected Slovakia. In this context, the Slovak head of state warned that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline could, similarly, become an instrument of blackmail against Ukraine.
During the discussion, Kiska told Trump that the key clause of NATO's collective security within Article 5 consists of 22 words and 124 characters. "Exactly the same amount that fits into a single tweet. Therefore, I asked President Trump to let this part of the world often hear about Article 5 because that's the foundation on which our NATO rests," said Kiska. In his subsequent public speech, Donald Trump conveyed the USA's commitment to Article 5 on collective defence.
The Three Seas initiative is aimed at improving cooperation and infrastructure links in the region between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas, thus contributing towards a more united Europe. "The more connected the countries are between themselves, the stronger the EU will become," said the Slovak President, adding that this applies to energy connections in particular.
Andrej Kiska was accompanied in Warsaw by Vice-premier for Investments and Informatisation Peter Pellegrini. "The Slovak Republic plays a crucial role within the Three Seas Initiative because a north-south connection is possible only via the Slovak and Czech Republics," said Pellegrini, adding that there are 157 specific projects within the initiative. Slovakia, in particular, must complete the building of the D4 motorway in eastern Slovakia in order to connect Poland and Hungary as well as continue the construction of a motorway between Žilina and the Polish border, said Pellegrini. "The financing for a gas connector with Poland has been secured," he claimed, adding that another long-expected accomplishment is the growing inter-connection of Slovak and Hungarian high-voltage grids. Another dimension of the Three Seas Initiative is to connect and expand digital infrastructure and to bolster cybersecurity.
