President: NATO Summit Constructive, A Show of Unity
Ankara/Bratislava, 8 July (TASR-correspondent) - The NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, was constructive and demonstrated the Alliance's unity, President Peter Pellegrini declared after the meeting of allied leaders on Wednesday.
Pellegrini added that Slovakia has no difficulty with the plan to allocate five percent of GDP annually to defence by 2035. TASR learnt the news from its special correspondent covering the event.
Pellegrini said that another key issue discussed at the summit was support for the defence industry and the expansion of arms production capacity across member states.
"It has become clear that increasing defence spending also requires sufficient industrial capacity to absorb those additional resources. For Slovakia, this is positive news because the country has invested heavily in developing its defence industry in recent years, and this is now delivering truly significant results," the president claimed.
He added that Slovakia had also presented its plans to increase the number of military personnel, highlighting the National Defence Forces project.
Support for Ukraine also formed part of the summit conclusions. Pellegrini accentuated that assistance remains a matter for individual member states and that the conclusions do not oblige any country to provide military aid.
"Slovakia is by no means isolated in this position. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and others expressed the same view during the summit," he said.
Pellegrini also reported that any reduction of the United States' military presence in Europe is expected to be gradual. According to him, Slovakia is prepared to provide two F-16 fighter aircraft that could help protect Baltic airspace.
"This will be our next contribution. We are part of the multinational brigade in Latvia, where next year we will again deploy artillery capabilities together with our Zuzana self-propelled howitzers, contributing directly to the protection of NATO's eastern flank in the Baltic region. At the same time, the multinational brigade under Spanish command at Lest in Slovakia will continue its activities as part of the protection of the eastern flank. Slovakia is therefore deeply involved in all these activities," he said.
NATO leaders summit at the Ankara summit on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to collective defence and their unwavering support for Ukraine.
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak, both of the Smer-SD party, also attended the summit alongside President Pellegrini.
