30 Oct. 2006

NATO Secretary General visits Slovakia News 27/10/2006 - NATO NATO Secretary General to visit Slovakia NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer discussed NATO’s Riga Summit and the Alliance’s mission in Afghanistan during a one-day visit to Bratislava, 30 October. Mr. De Hoop Scheffer met with President Ivan Gašparovič, Prime Minister Robert Fico, Foreign Minister Ján Kubiš and Defence Minister František Kašický. They discussed among other issues the possibility of Slovakia sending an engineering unit to southern Afghanistan, to boost the development and reconstruction work carried out by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The Secretary General also called on the government to increase its defence expenditures to reach the agreed NATO defence spending target of 2% of GDP.