The General Meeting of the Slovak Atlantic Commission confirmed the Organisation’s growing importance on international level and presented its new programme pillars. Róbert Vass was re-elected the Organisation’s Secretary General for the upcoming term.
Bratislava, December 5, 2011 – The General Meeting of the Slovak Atlantic Commission (SAC) reconfirmed the Secretary General Róbert Vass for the upcoming term. The Secretary General presented the strategic changes that SAC is currently undergoing, as well as the Organisation’s vision for the upcoming period. Recently, the Commission undertook the most significant shift in its nearly 20 years of history. Thanks to expanding its activity portfolio, new programme pillars were established and the Organisation grew to include 11 new members of staff and more are to be hired shortly.
Today, the Commission’s backbone consists of four programme pillars. Within those pillars, SAC promotes the growth of young leaders, helps share Slovak experiences from the country’s transformation and integration with the Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries. The Commission strengthened its programme of foreign policy flagship events, organizing a number of important international seminars, forums and conventions with participation of dozens of foreign affairs and defence ministers. The prestigious international GLOBSEC Conference has been the flagship among these events. Likewise, the founding of the SAC analytical centre, a Central European think-tank called the Central European Policy Institute (CEPI), has been an important milestone. CEPI aims at strengthening Slovakia’s and Central Europe’s voice in the Transatlantic Foreign Policy and Security discussion. CEPI shall focus predominantly on expert issues in the fields of foreign policy, security and defence.
The ever stronger international reputation and position is best demonstrated by the newly established SAC International Advisory Board claiming big names of international politics. Some of its members are Ian Brzezinski, former senior US Government official and currently Senior Fellow of the International Security Program at Atlantic Council of the United States; Damon Wilson, Executive Vice President and Director of the International Security Program at the Atlantic Council of the United States; Stephen Flanagan, influential foreign policy expert, member of the leading CSIS think-tank, also Vice-President and Henry A. Kissinger Chair; Adam Rotfeld, former Poland’s FA Minister.
The General Assembly elected six new members of SAC Board of Administration: Tomáš Valášek, director of foreign policy and defence at the Centre for European Reform in London; Ivan Korčok, Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union; Igor Slobodník, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Germany; gen. Milan Cerovský, former Slovak Army Chief of Staff; Jozef Bátora, Director of the Institute of European Studies and International Relations, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava; Robin Shepherd, prominent British-born political commentator and analyst, former Senior Research Fellow for Europe at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, currently Director for International Affairs, the Henry Jackson Society, London.
The Organisation’s current growth and development is best shown in its increasing influence on regional and transatlantic level. “SAC has worked hard to become a non-governmental organisation respected domestically and internationally. It is a brand we can be proud of,” Rastislav Káčer, SAC President, commented on the Organisation’s operation insofar. “To me, the most important shift has been the fact that the Slovak Atlantic Commission has exceeded the boundaries of Slovakia and of the Region with its activities and influence. Today, SAC operates on three continents and it has built partnerships with the world’s most influential think-tanks in Europe and North America. SAC has become a respected part of the transatlantic non-governmental community, representing not just Slovakia, but also Central Europe,” Róbert Vass emphasised.
