A two-day informal meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) foreign ministers began today in Prague, in preparation for the July NATO summit in Washington. The war in Ukraine is the main topic of the event.
On the sidelines of the meeting, a number of bilateral meetings will take place, and several Czech politicians will meet US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. President Petr Pavel will then award the Order of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (TGM), third class, to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The meeting in Prague marks the 25th anniversary of the Czech Republic’s membership of NATO and the 75th anniversary of the Alliance’s founding. According to the Foreign Ministry, it is the largest NATO event in the Czech Republic since the summit in Prague in 2002. David Konecky, senior director of the Foreign Ministry’s security and multilateral section and future Czech ambassador to NATO, said the meeting is intended to allow ministers to discuss sensitive issues where there may be confusion. The meeting is very closely linked to the success of the Washington summit.
The main venue for the meeting is the Czernin Palace. Pavel, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky (Pirates), and Defence Minister Jana Cernochova (ODS) are scheduled to meet Blinken today.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) will receive Stoltenberg, who will later be awarded the TGM Order by President Pavel. Pavel and Stoltenberg previously served together in the NATO leadership for three years.
A public debate will then take place in the Senate, where the head of the chamber, Milos Vystrcil (ODS), and Stoltenberg will speak. The debate will also be attended by Lipavsky, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
