23 November 2002
Rumsfeld Congratulates Slovakia on NATO Invitation
(Specialized capabilities, love of freedom will enhance alliance)
(2890)
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that Slovakia's prospects
are bright as it prepares to become one of seven new nations to join
the NATO alliance.
"This is an important day for this republic," Rumsfeld said. "It is
also an important day for the United States and for the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, and I feel particularly privileged to be able to
be here on what is a memorable occasion."
Secretary Rumsfeld spoke at a joint press conference in Bratislava on
November 22, 2002, with Mikulas Dzurinda, prime minister of the Slovak
Republic, Ivan Simko, Slovak minister of defense; and press spokesman
Martin Maruska.
Rumsfeld noted that Slovakia is already contributing troops and
specialized military expertise in Afghanistan. Slovakia, like the
other new NATO nations, he said, "will bring an energy and enthusiasm
and a love of freedom that will be important and provide a great deal
of energy to the alliance."
Prime Minister Dzurinda said: "The invitation of Slovakia to join the
alliance is an exceptional event not only for the Slovak nation -- for
the citizens of this country, for my home country -- but it is an
exceptional event for the whole of Europe because this robust
enlargement has definitely made the Iron Curtain something of the past
and Europe has become united. I think it's an excellent gift for the
tenth anniversary of our young country."
Following is a Department of Defense transcript of the joint press
conference with Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, Defense Minister Ivan
Simko, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Bratislava,
November 22:
(begin transcript)
U.S Department of Defense
News Transcript
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Joint Press Conference
Bratislava, Slovakia
November 22, 2002
Press conference at the Government Office of the Slovak Republic,
Bratislava, Slovakia.
Also participating: Mikulas Dzurinda, prime minister of the Slovak
Republic; Ivan Simko, minister of defense of the Slovak Republic; and
Martin Maruska, press spokesman of the Government Office.
Maruska: Good afternoon, Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this press
conference after a meeting of our prime minister with the secretary of
defense, Mr. Rumsfeld. The minister of defense of the Slovak Republic
is also taking part here. First I give the floor to our prime
minister.
Dzurinda: Secretary of Defense, ladies and gentlemen. I am so pleased
to have this opportunity to welcome the secretary of defense of the
United States of America here in Slovakia.
It's a great honor and pleasure for us for many reasons. Every one of
you, for sure, will understand that the most important reason for our
joy and happiness is that the Slovak Republic, my country, was invited
yesterday to become a member state of the North Atlantic Alliance
[NATO]. In the life of every country there are exceptional events and
the invitation of Slovakia to join the alliance is such an exceptional
event. I think it is an exceptional event not only for the Slovak
nation -- for the citizens of this country, for my home country -- but
it is an exceptional event for the whole of Europe because this robust
enlargement has definitely made the Iron Curtain something of the past
and Europe has become united. I think it's an excellent gift for the
tenth anniversary of our young country.
In the ceremonial moments I also realized that to be invited to the
alliance is, on one hand, a culmination, but on the other hand, it's a
new beginning. A new beginning of a road that will be, for sure,
difficult and complex. A road where we will have to go through and
cope with new challenges.
I would like to express my wish and desire that Slovakia will do its
utmost to have the instruments ratified and to join the alliance and
to be a real contribution to the collective defense and the
enlargement of the zone of security and stability in Europe and
worldwide. We want to be not only consumers, we want to be also an
active contributor to the common defense. Concluding, I would like to
convey the main political message, that I was also conveying it to the
secretary of defense, which is that Slovakia has been and will be a
strong ally of the United States of America, in any case, under any
circumstances.
Maruska: Thank you prime minister, and now to you sir, Mr. Rumsfeld, a
short opening statement.
Rumsfeld: It has to be short? (Laughter)
Dzurinda: There are some exceptions.
Rumsfeld: I see. Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Minister of Defense, I am
so pleased to be here. We've had good discussions at the Ministry of
Defense today. We've had a wonderful meeting with the president of the
Republic. And the prime minister and I have just had a good visit as
well as a visit on the plane coming over today. As he has said, this
is an important day for this republic. It is also an important day for
the United States and for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and I
feel particularly privileged to be able to be here on what is a
memorable occasion.
I grew up in Chicago with a great many people from this part of the
world. I served in Congress and was involved in what we call "Captive
Nation's Week" where we would each year discuss the circumstances of
the countries in this part of the world with feeling, with affection,
and with hope. I served as Ambassador to NATO in the early 1970s and,
needless to say, was interested in what was taking place in the Soviet
Union; what was taking place in the Warsaw Pact; and hopeful for the
future, but concerned about the present back in those days a quarter
of a century ago. And then, as secretary of defense of the United
States in the mid-1970s, I again was attentive to what was taking
place in this part of the world and again with hope that the world
would change, and here we are. It has changed and it's changed in such
a significant way.
The prospects for this country, the prospects for your neighbors, the
prospects for the western alliance, the United States and Canada in
North America and the Western European countries I think are bright.
I came here today and I have congratulated the officials of government
and the people of the republic on their invitation to become a part of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. I've also congratulated the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization on having the wisdom and the good
judgment to invite in seven new entrants. We talked today about the
kinds of reforms that are necessary and important with the minister of
defense and I have great confidence in the motion that's taking place
and the progress that's taking place and certainly wish them well
while recognizing that navigating from where one was ten years ago to
where you're heading today is not a easy path, it's a difficult path.
It's a difficult path for government leaders, it's a difficult path
sometimes for the people, and just know that we are wishing you well
every step along the way.
I also express my appreciation to the leadership, the prime minister
and the minister of defense for the role they play for the global war
on terrorism and previously in the NATO Partnership for Peace, the
close working relationship we're developing, and particularly for the
assistance in Afghanistan, which we believe is so important. I hope
that was short enough.
Maruska: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have time only for four
questions. Two for Slovak journalists and two for American
journalists. We start with the Slovak journalists, Slovak TV.
Q: Secretary Rumsfeld, from a military point of view, what is the
significance of the NATO enlargement by Slovakia? Our people are
interested in whether there will be some weapons stationed here,
whether our soldiers will serve in rapid deployment units.
Rumsfeld: The decisions about what Slovakia will do, and the Republic
will do, is entirely up to the Republic. They will be making judgments
as we go through the months and years ahead after their official
entry. The value to NATO is very clear. Already this country is
contributing peacekeepers around the globe and peacekeeping is going
to continue to be an important activity and function. The country has
specialties in special forces, in chemical and biological detection
capabilities, it has capabilities in engineering which is already
making a contribution in Afghanistan to the benefit of the Afghan
people and to the coalition of forces that are working there to help
that new government find its way to a more peaceful circumstance, free
of terrorists, and free of the al Qaeda.
It also brings a more recent respect for freedom, because it wasn't
too many years ago when they didn't have that kind of freedom, and
having countries come into the alliance that understand how important
it is and value it so greatly, as was just so evident in the NATO
council yesterday and today -- the remarks that were made by the seven
nations that are entering -- no one could have been there and not been
impressed and convinced that these new countries will bring an energy
and enthusiasm and a love of freedom that will be important and
provide a great deal of energy to the alliance.
Maruska: Thank you very much. Another question?
Q: I'm Charles Aldinger with Reuters. I'd like to ask the minister --
there have been continuing reports of corruption in the government
here -- that it hasn't been cleaned up completely. What are you doing
to erase this? There is some concern within NATO that perhaps
corruption might prompt the sale of NATO secrets or perhaps the arms
trade. What's being done to clean up corruption in the government?
Dzurinda: To whom do you address your question?
Q: To the minister.
Dzurinda: Mr. Minister?
Q: The prime minister. Oh, sorry. (Laughter)
Dzurinda: I have my minister for difficult questions. (Laughter) May I
respond in my mother language? I have to keep my Slovak press
comfortable. Corruption is a phenomenon that exists in many countries,
in every country that is in transition from communism to the new world
of democracies, the new world of democracy and prosperity. If you had
time, and you would read the program manifesto of this government that
entered office only a few weeks ago, then on every second page and in
every area of our public life you would find the commitment of the
government and also goals concerning combating corruption. We were
trying to combat this also in the previous period and we are going to
enhance this effort. I think we have also positive experience in
Slovakia.
I am, for instance, very happy to see American capital here. As you
know, we have a large steelworks in the east of the country and the
steelworks were bought by an American company, U.S. Steel, and I think
U.S. Steel is doing an excellent business for themselves and for us,
the Slovaks. I once visited the United States on the occasion of an
investment conference and the president of U.S. Steel said openly that
in his two years of negotiations he never encountered corruption. I am
telling this to show you that one should have a comprehensive view on
the problem. One should see also the positives and the negatives of
the efforts. But once again, my government and I are aware of that
Slovakia will be a prosperous country, a free country, only when we
can suppress corruption to a minimum. And the Slovak government will
try to do so.
Simko: I can add concrete facts from our manifesto. There are two
basic areas where we are going to fight corruption, that is, we will
increase repression [of corruption]. We would like to have new law
enforcement agencies starting and also prosecutors and judges that
will specialize in combating corruption, and we also want to narrow
the room for corruptive behavior, that is less papers, less permits,
less licenses, so that the areas which don't need bureaucratic
decisions are not decided by bureaucrats, because this is really the
nourishing area for corruption.
Maruska: TV TA3?
Q: Lucia Nicholsonova. I have a question for the secretary of defense
of the U.S. Corruption is pinpointed by visitors from America to
Slovakia. It was mentioned by the ambassador to Slovakia -- different
visitors to Slovakia. The ambassador to Slovakia said that corruption
in Slovakia may be an argument for rejecting Slovakia from becoming a
member of the Alliance and EU. Secretary, how important do you view
combating corruption in Slovakia and what is, in your view, the link
between combating corruption and the accession to the two
organizations. Thank you.
Rumsfeld: I can only speak with respect to NATO, but, obviously, the
NATO countries had an intensive look at the seven countries that had
been invited to join NATO and they recognized that in each case there
were some strengths and some weaknesses. And they considered them and
balanced them and ended up deciding to invite seven nations to join
NATO. Taking all of those things into account and working with them on
various programs so that each country, by the time the process is
completed, will have met all of the tests that are needed.
So obviously, the arguments with respect to corruption were balanced
off against a whole series of things that were considered. We're
interested in lots of things, NATO is. We're interested in reform of
our defense capabilities and I know the minister of defense is working
on that, as is the United States.
All of our countries in NATO have generally free political systems and
generally free economic systems to varying degrees and I must say I
think what the minister of defense said a minute ago is exactly on the
mark. Corruption tends to thrive in large bureaucracies where there's
dollars available and where there is a lot of discretion and a lot of
decisions that need to be made, that can be made in a variety of
different ways, and I think the minister is tackling the problem in
exactly the right way and the government's tackling it in the right
way.
The reason it's important to the people in the United States, and the
people of the world is because corruption strikes just at the heart of
a democratic system. Because a democratic system is there to serve the
people and if there is anything corruption does is that it steals from
the people. So that's the only reason that it's important and we
believe in democratic systems and we are impressed with the progress
that's being made in this country and I must say I visited with the
prime minister and the minister of defense and I'm impressed with the
programs they have underway to deal with all aspects of their entry
into NATO and wish them well.
Maruska: Thank you very much. The last question is to an American
journalist.
Q: We're all aware of Slovakia's superior skills in ice hockey. What
are the equivalent superior skills that your nation will bring as a
member of NATO -- the particular attributes or tasks that you'll be
superior in.
Dzurinda: Thank you very much for this charming question and parallel.
We are proud of the Slovak ice hockey players who are good players
also in the National Hockey League. Slovakia is preparing diligently
to be a contributor to the alliance.
In the last term, 1998 -- 2002, I was meeting on a monthly basis with
the minister of foreign affairs and minister of defense and in this
term of the government I am continuing in the tradition. Minister
Simko, Minister Kukan and I have opened a discussion regarding what
could be the concrete contribution of Slovakia, as a future member
state of NATO, to NATO. I want to be quick before we close the
discussion, but we are working diligently. We are a mountainous
country. We have some specialized troops trained to operate in high
mountains. This is also the way we are training our specialists for
reconnaissance. Our troops in Afghanistan are known to be good
engineers. We have quite [unintelligible] engineers operating in the
Balkans and Afghanistan and in some other parts of the world. We also
manufacture good equipment for removing mines and they are quite
successfully employed in peace missions.
We have a model for transforming our armed forces by 2010 and by 2006
we would like to have a fully professional army. But we are aware of
the new challenges. We know that our armed forces should be not only
professional but also flexible, able to communicate with the armed
forces of other NATO member states.
So if I may sum up, we are aware that we are expected to be active and
we want to be an active player in NATO and very soon we would like to
come with a specific offer for enriching the alliance.
Maruska: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming and see
you on another occasion.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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