Prime Minister Andrej Babiš received NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Straka Academy. The main topic of the meeting was the upcoming important North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in July in Ankara, Turkey, as well as the current situation in the Middle East and its security implications.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived in Prague as part of his tour of NATO member states ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara. The two politicians discussed mainly the preparations for the summit, the latest developments in the Middle East conflict and the important video conference on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. Another topic was defence spending.

„Our government considers our defence capability and our NATO commitments to be of great importance and priority. Today we held a joint meeting in the presence of the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Of course, we also talked about defence spending, which is important to us. Certainly one of our priorities is to build a much bigger army than we have,“ said the Prime Minister. „We are certainly doing everything we can to meet our commitments,“ dodal.

„Our army within NATO has a great sound and our soldiers on missions have a great reputation. We are proud of them and have great respect for them.“ pointed out Prime Minister Babiš.

"The situation in the world is tense, and tomorrow we will have a video conference with French President Macron, British Prime Minister Starmer and representatives of other countries regarding the situation in Hormuz. I am pleased that colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence, Minister Macinka and Minister Zouna, are coming up with a proposal, an offer to help ensure security in the Strait of Hormuz. I won't talk about the details, but this is a matter where our industry is strong, and I think that will please our friends and President Trump in the US.“ said the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Babiš also recalled the impact of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on the European economy, especially on the availability and prices of fuel. „Europe should very quickly reassess the situation and address its self-sufficiency,“ stated Prime Minister Babiš.

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