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| Slovakia Summit 2005 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Host country |  Slovakia |
| Date | February 24, 2005 (2005-02-24) |
| Cities | Bratislava,Slovakia |
| Participants |  George W. Bush Vladimir Putin |
| Website | www |
TheSlovakia Summit 2005 was asummit meeting between United States PresidentGeorge W. Bush and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin (hence also known as theBush-Putin summit). It took place on 24 February 2005, inBratislava,Slovakia.[1] This marked the first occasion when a sitting President of the United States visited Slovakia since its independence in 1993. The previous "Bush-Putin summit" had taken place inSlovenia on 16 June 2001.
Also attending wasCondoleezza Rice (U.S. Secretary of State) andSergey Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister) as well as the first ladies of both countries,Laura Bush andLyudmila Putina.
Prior to the summit, Bush had traveled toBrussels and met with several European leaders and councils of theEuropean Union andNATO, includingTony Blair,Silvio Berlusconi,Jacques Chirac, andJavier Solana. He also met withViktor Yushchenko, the new President ofUkraine, and gave a public speech directed at citizens of Europe outlining his policies. He then travelled to Germany and met withGerhard Schröder. In preparation for the summit, Condoleezza Rice spent a week visiting officials in European capitals.
Bush met with Slovak leaders including PresidentIvan Gašparovič and Prime MinisterMikuláš Dzurinda. On 24 February Bush also gave a public speech inHviezdoslav Square (Hviezdoslavovo námestie) in Bratislava.
Topics of discussion at the summit are partly private, but includedRussian democracy (this was the main topic at the subsequent press conference), the situation inIran, theNorth Korean nuclear talks and other international topics. One of the objects of the summit activities was to improve relations between the U.S. and Europe. Notably, Slovakia is an ally of the U.S. in theIraq War and contributed troops to theCoalition of the willing.
In conjunction with the summit, a conference, "A New Quest for Democracy", was held in Bratislava by theMarshall Fund in conjunction with Slovak partners, to which mainly past or contemporaneous "fighters" for democracy from Eastern Europe (incl.Belarus,Serbia etc.) were invited.[1]Archived 12 September 2007 at theWayback Machine
Both first ladies visited the famousPrimate's Palace. The US first lady opened a department of the University Library in Bratislava (which was being restored and modernized at that time) that was devoted to US literature and studies. The Russian first lady opened a similar department for Russian literature in the same library one day later.
Among other things, Bush promised that US administration will prepare a "road map" for Slovakia (and probably also the neighbouring Central European countries) aiming at abolishing the need of US entrancevisa for the citizens of Slovakia and those countries.
Safety was the pinnacle of concerns for all participants. TheSlovak Army and Slovak government had pledged their full resources for the security of each individual. Among the resources being deployed were:
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