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(Interpretation throughout)
ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN (Secretary General of NATO): Thank you very much. Good afternoon. It's really a great pleasure for me to welcome today Prime Minister Radičová to NATO Headquarters. I appreciate very much that you decided to visit our Headquarters so soon after you took office. I consider it yet another testimony to Slovakia's strong commitment to the NATO Alliance. And I look very much forward to fruitful cooperation with you and your government.
I'm grateful for Slovakia's valuable contribution to both of NATO's largest operations, ISAF and KFOR. Slovakia takes its responsibility in Afghanistan and to NATO seriously, with its troops deployed in difficult areas of Uruzgan and Kandahar. I strongly welcome that.
We have, of course, discussed the situation in Afghanistan. Obviously the going is tough now. We are taking the fight to Taliban heartland, right where Slovak troops are located in Kandahar and in Helmand. It is of strategic importance, and of course, the Taliban are fighting back hard.
Our goal is to provide the conditions for a gradual transition to lead Afghan responsibility and well-trained Afghan forces remain the key to a successful transition. Every offer of dedicated trainers and mentors makes an important contribution and I appreciate very much Slovakia's efforts in this area. And I count on your continued contribution.
I also welcome Slovakia's important and constructive role in the Western Balkans. This is a region that knows full well the importance of good relations between neighbours, and the value of full Euro-Atlantic integration for all countries.
The overall security situation in Kosovo remains generally stable. Still, recent unrest in Mitrovica shows that the situation in Kosovo is volatile at times. But the general trend is in the right direction and KFOR will remain to backstop the Kosovo and EU police, and that is an essential contribution to regional security and it will continue.
So, once again, many thanks for your swift visit to NATO, and I look forward to working closely with you and your government on the important agenda we have ahead of us.
IVETA RADIČOVÁ (Prime Minister of Slovakia): Thank you very much.
At this time I will speak in Slovak, if I may, and that's due to the fact that the terminology... I'm aware of the terminology in Slovak, but I wouldn't like to make some mistakes in some specific procedures, because whether you like it or not I'm not a soldier.
So thank you very much for receiving me. We talked about many various topics, but most of all I can convey and I can... I'll be glad to do that, I can convey to our government and to Slovakia a very positive assessment of our mission in Afghanistan.
The mission involves training and practice of local army so that they can in the future take over the important leading role to protect their democracy and I appreciate that the Slovak mission is involved in this very important role.
We had also very important discussions, and that is about another important topic and that is the new strategy that is being prepared in NATO that will be the topic of the NATO Summit in November. And I appreciate that the new strategy is being born... or taking the respect of what should be the content of a new strategy, and that is the consensus, openness and transparency.
We have had many informal and formal meetings. As far as I was informed some additional meetings will take place so that the final wording, or the final draft of this strategy is a strategy that could be accepted by all the countries and we fully identified with the strategy and it is equally... or will equally support and welcome the new reform of the structures of NATO and not only formally, but also by our active participation in this reorganization or restructuring.
For us, of course, the principle of solidarity and compliant with our commitments means not only the future of NATO, but also the nature of our shared security together with NATO and the United States in the broader context of the entire globe.
So perhaps we are a small country, but nevertheless we would like to have active participation with these programs. So Slovakia had and will have contributed to the good reputation of NATO, and also to its transition to new strategic goals such as the territorial protection, but also new responses to new ways of attacks and violence such as terrorism et cetera. And also the creation of the new partnerships and the help and assistance with civilian life and the standard of living conditions in those territories where it is necessary.
So once more I hope that our cooperation will be fruitful in the future. At the end of everything I dare to invite you back to Slovakia and hopefully as soon as you will have all the commitments related to the NATO Summit readied and you will be able to come to Slovakia.
Q: I would also like to ask a question to Mr. Rasmussen in Slovak so that I can say exactly what I want. When you visited Slovakia last time you were very well received, and then five minutes later our former Prime Minister refused the question that you even didn't raise, and that was the possible missile defence system. He said very clearly that as long as he would stay in power then there would be no such thing built in Slovakia.
You remained silent at that time and you never gave any comments, official comments after that. So after today, while you had the first meeting with the new government of the Slovak Republic, the new Prime Minister, has your impression of Slovakia as a membership country of NATO, has it changed in any way? Or could you say in a few sentences how do you see the Prime Minister as a woman in this position?
ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: First of all, I appreciate very much that there seems to be a broad political consensus in Slovakia when it comes to the political commitment to our Alliance. And I also think, coming from a small country myself, that it is of utmost importance to ensure a broad political basis for foreign and security policy. That's my first point.
Second, yes, we have discussed missile defence today because I hope that NATO will be able to make a decision on development of a missile defence system when we have our Summit in November.
And to avoid any misunderstanding, the reason why I didn't react to the statement from the former Prime Minister when we had a joint press conference in Bratislava some months ago, the reason why I didn't react to that was that we have never requested Slovakia to host missile defence facilities, or technically speaking interceptors. So actually we didn't discuss that. And this is still the situation. That we have not requested Slovakia to be a host nation. But of course, we need Slovak support for the development of a missile defence system within NATO and I hope for such support.
I do believe that we need a real protection against a real threat and the proposed missile defence system will be able to protect all populations in all NATO countries, and I think that is part of a credible collective defence.
IVETA RADIČOVÁ: I can only confirm that we talked about a missile defence system. We talked about it in quite a detail and the basic thing that we have in common is that the common security cannot be a matter of just one part of the world, but if we are a regular part of NATO, and we are, then that means we have certain obligations as well, and clear statements to even such sensitive issues. Although now it's more a political issue rather than an economical issue.
Q: Khalid Hameed Farooqi from Geo Television, Pakistan. Secretary General, yesterday General Petraeus met in Islamabad General Kayani and expressed his full confidence in Pakistan armed forces, but we had very different sound from Washington who says Pakistani armed forces still having connection with an Afghani network. I'm very much interested to hear from you, what is your opinion about this? Afghani network communication and connection with Pakistan armed forces.
ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: First of all, I would like to express my appreciation of the determined fight against terrorism and extremism in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. I would like to commend the Pakistani government and the Pakistani military for the work they do to protect people against the scorch of terrorism and extremism.
I have no detailed information about such relations between the Pakistani military and terrorist networks. I feel confident that Pakistan will do its utmost to fight terrorism, and help us stabilize the situation in Afghanistan and in the region.
JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesman): That's all we have time for, Secretary General. Thank you.