Bratislava is hosting Europe's political leaders at the largest security conference GLOBSEC. Due to the pandemic, organizers moved it from spring to October. The security forum is taking place under very strict hygienic measures, with all the participants undergoing regular testing. Several keynote speakers, like the World Health Organization Secretary General Tedros Adhan Ghebreyesus, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joined the forum via video conference. The main topic of the conference is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"The coronavirus pandemic has not only revealed our strong and weak suits, it's also provided us with a unique opportunity to improve matters", Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová stated in her address at the security forum on Wednesday. The president at the same time pointed to the urgent need for a healing process that will go beyond the framework of the health-care system and will include society as a whole. In her view, this adjustment should consist of three key components, such as the respect for rules, properly functioning institutions and public trust in the state, its institutions, rules and political representatives.
On Wednesday, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya together with the Czech politician and former foreign affairs minister Karel Schwarzenberg received this year's Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award. The pair were awarded the honour for their extraordinary contribution towards promoting democratic values and the protection of human rights. The Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award is bestowed jointly by the GLOBSEC organisation and the Czech Euro-Atlantic Council Jagello 2000.
