The Czech Republic and Slovakia share the view that Ukraine should receive the strongest possible political support at the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, including prospects for its future membership in the alliance, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday
PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th July, 2023) The Czech Republic and Slovakia share the view that Ukraine should receive the strongest possible political support at the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, including prospects for its future membership in the alliance, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday.
"Ukraine is waiting for a clear signal from NATO member states at the Vilnius summit. The Czech Republic and Slovakia fully agree that it is necessary to ensure that Ukraine receives the strongest possible political support, including the explicit prospect of its future membership in NATO," he said after talks with his Slovak counterpart, Ludovit Odor, in Prague.
Fiala added that the Czech Republic and Slovakia intend to strongly support Ukraine in the future, including in its post-conflict reconstruction. The Czech Republic has taken over the reconstruction of the Dnipropetrovsk region and is ready to take over other parts of the country as well, the prime minister said, adding that Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian representatives would discuss concrete post-conflict cooperation projects at the International Engineering Fair in the city of Brno in October.
Fiala said that he was pleased that the leaders of several Southeast Asian nations would be attending the summit.
"I am glad that the alliance is paying even more attention to China's actions and ambitions in the region and is looking for strategic partners," he said.
The Czech prime minister added that NATO should continue to support Sweden's membership bid, which had not yet been ratified by Turkey and Hungary.
In early June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kiev hoped to receive a clear invitation to join the bloc at the summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. He also said the Ukrainian military was disappointed that Ukraine had not yet received a clear positive response about joining both the European Union and NATO.
On June 19, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the top-level summit in July would not discuss a formal invitation, but rather ways to "move Ukraine closer to NATO."
