NATO20: Bator: Slovakia Good Ally in NATO, Both for Missions and Diplomacy

Brussels, March 29 (TASR) - During the two decades of its NATO membership, Slovakia has confirmed that it's a responsible partner in terms of participation in missions and in the field of diplomacy, in which it has assisted in the expanding the Alliance, head of Slovakia's Permanent Representation to NATO Peter Bator has said in in an interview for TASR on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Slovakia's accession to NATO. Bator noted that Slovakia has been participating in NATO missions and operations since joining the Alliance. One of biggest examples was in Afghanistan, where Slovak soldiers served until the end of the mission and, according to Bator, were among the last to leave some bases along with US soldiers and sometimes even later than them. "The work they did there was significant. We were also in Kosovo, we're still present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a mission which is the biggest manifestation of NATO-EU cooperation, and we even have a few soldiers on a training, non-combat mission in Iraq. We have done our part," remarked Bator. Bator noted that nowadays, when NATO doesn't carry out as many operations and missions outside its territory, much more emphasis is put on joint exercises, an area in which Slovakia has a lot to improve. This means sending more troops on joint multinational exercises, moving more often with military equipment beyond the country's borders and getting used to being part of a larger whole. Bator confirmed that even in the diplomatic dimension Slovakia hasn't stood aside in NATO and has always supported the Alliance's open door policy. "In particular in the case of Montenegro, it was Slovakia that proposed one of the new systems for reporting on meeting pre-accession conditions in order to speed up the final process of Montenegro's accession to NATO, said Bator. Slovakia also actively supported the accession of North Macedonia and had a strong voice in the enlargement of the Alliance at the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, when Ukraine and Georgia were given the prospect of membership, and also at last year's summit in Vilnius, where the future of the Alliance was again openly discussed. Bator at the same time remarked that repeated statements by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico that Slovakia won't support Ukraine's accession to NATO don't resonate within the Alliance. In fact, former Slovak president Ivan Gasparovic's 2008 signature of support for Ukraine and Georgia is valid, and Slovakia has confirmed this decision at every NATO summit it has attended. zel/df