Lajcak among main speakers at NATO Conference

Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak is representing Slovakia in Washington at NATO's 70^th anniversary celebrations. At a conference called 'NATO at 70: Commemorating the Past. Preparing for the Future' held on Wednesday, Lajcak stated that the organisation was established as a result of Europe's development after WWII. He also quoted former US president Harry Truman, in whose opinion, had the Alliance existed before 1914, it might have prevented both world wars. According to Lajcak, efforts to join NATO motivated several post-communist countries to implement political and economic reforms, normalise relations with their neighbours, eliminate nationalist populism and achieve national dignity. "It's sad that thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War we can observe in some countries tendencies to doubt the successes we've achieved," stated Lajcak as one of the main speakers. He stressed the necessity to keep the principle of open doors for further potential applicants who might be interested in joining NATO under the condition of meeting the set criteria, just as Slovakia did in 2004.