IRI Hosts NED President in Bratislava

February 25, 2005

In conjunction with the visit of President Bush to Slovakia on Feb. 24, IRI’s Regional Program for Central and Eastern Europe hosted National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman for a dinner presentation and discussion in Bratislava. Participants included representatives of non-governmental organizations engaged in democracy promotion efforts from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Belarus, as well as officials from the Slovak government’s democracy assistance agency and various embassies in Bratislava.

Gershman linked President Bush's calls for expanding freedom and democracy to American traditions reaching as far back as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. He explored the positive impact that joint US-European democracy assistance efforts could have in strengthening the transatlantic relationship, as they can focus both sides of the Atlantic on shared values regarding the universal desire for freedom.

Both in his dinner presentation and in an earlier meeting with State Secretary Jozsef Berenyi, who is responsible for SlovakAid, he encouraged governments in the region to develop and expand their democracy assistance infrastructures and spoke of his own work in helping to develop NED-like organizations around the world.

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