SLOVAKIA: 2008 NATO POLICY-MAKER TOUR PROPOSAL

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000538 SIPDIS SIPDIS USNATO FOR MELISSA JARRETT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: NATO KPAO OEXC OIIP PREL LO SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA: 2008 NATO POLICY-MAKER TOUR PROPOSAL REF: USNATO 467 ¶1. Embassy Bratislava requests a date be reserved for a policy-maker tour in April/May 2008, following the NATO Summit. Post would send 6-8 employees of the Ministry of Defense and Government Office, a representative from DAO and a Political Officer. Post requests a tour that includes substantive presentations and discussions at NATO Headquarters and SHAPE, and a briefing by the Pol-Mil team at USEU. PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL -------------- ¶2. Post has worked hard to adjust our message and tactic to maximize Slovak contributions to NATO missions under the government that took power in July 2006. In FY07 Post sent seven newly-elected Members of Parliament on a policy-makers tour to USNATO. That trip helped post form stronger relationships with MPs from the new ruling coalition parties as well as reaffirming our interest in working with both coalition and opposition MPs on important security-related matters. At this point all relevant MPs have participated on a US sponsored tour of NATO. ¶3. For the FY08 policy-makers tour, Post is nominating influential working-level employees of the Ministry of Defense and the Government Office. Post has established relationships and contacts with the highest-level policy makers in the new Slovak government. We are concerned, however, that many of the new faces brought into the upper working-levels of the security arena since July 2006 remain uncertain of their authority and ways in which they can leverage their positions to advance issues of bilateral concern. It will be beneficial for them to develop an understanding of US-Slovak bilateral and multilateral avenues of cooperation in these participants; to reinforce their understandings of NATO's capabilities, functions and limitations; and to support Slovakia's meeting of its NATO obligations. This comes at a particularly important time as Slovakia commits its forces to NATO's NRF. ¶4. Final participants for nomination will be determined after a date has been confirmed and in consultation with relevant offices and leaders at the Ministry of Defense. Preliminarily, Post has identified the following desirable candidates, all of whom are Slovak citizens and speak English well enough to function without translation: - Martin BAVOLAR, Secretary of the Security Council of the Slovak Republic - Pavel TUREK, Chief Advisor to the Bureau of Crisis Management - Jaroslav Nad, Section Head for Multinational Relations at MoD - Bohuslava LUKACOVICOVA, Division Director for International Relations at MoD - Jaroslav HORVATH, Division Director for International Crisis Management and Verification at MoD - Julius DEMETRIAN, Department Director, Security and Defense Policy at MoD - Col. Radomir PECA, Deputy Chief of Operations and Training Staff J-3 - Ivan SOLEJ, Office of the Minister of Defense VALLEE