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President Drnovšek meets the Governor of Colorado
Davos (Switzerland) , 01/25/2003 | press release
President Drnovšek today attended a select gathering for lunch, organised by the Governor of the US state of Colorado, Bill Owens. Mr Owens was recently voted “the best governor in America” and is the chairman of the Republican Governors’ Association. President Drnovšek’s previous meetings with Governor Owens were in Davos in 2001 and later on his visit to Slovenia.
President Drnovšek congratulated Mr Owens on his election victory last year when he was re-elected with the largest majority in Colorado’s history. He made reference to the special ties that exist between Slovenia and Colorado given the cooperation between the Slovenian Armed Forces and the Colorado National Guard. He underlined the importance Slovenia places on relations with the United States, which intervened on Slovenia’s account on many occasions during the 20th century. This began with President Wilson’s Fourteen Points at the time of the First World War on a nation’s right to self-determination, then continued with the decisive contribution to the Allied war effort during the Second World War, and finally encompassed active US involvement on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. President Drnovšek underlined the contribution the Colorado National Guard had made to stabilising South-Eastern Europe through its role in various operations in the Balkans. This contributed to Slovenia’s security and to its peaceful and successful development over the last decade.
Governor Owens congratulated President Drnovšek on his election as President of Slovenia and on Slovenia’s invitations to join Nato and the European Union. He said that Slovenia’s achievements were an example to the entire region and that its role as a future NATO member could only strengthen.
Their talks also covered the issue of Iraq. Governor Owens said the United States considered Iraq a real threat to international peace and security, one that had to be addressed immediately. He said that current critics of US foreign policy were forgetting that two years ago the world expressed the fear that the newly-elected President Bush would succumb to the tradition of American isolationism. Now, as it becomes clear that he takes the US role in bringing stability to crisis points around the world very seriously, he is still being criticised.
Dr Janez Drnovšek said that every possibility of bringing a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis through the UN must be first exhausted and that if Baghdad’s non-cooperation meant it became impossible to avoid a military operation against Iraq, Slovenia would want any use of armed forces to be approved by the Security Council. This would benefit both the US and the international community. Whatever happened, he said, Saddam Hussein must not be permitted to emerge as the victor from the present crisis. The members of the Security Council must therefore carefully consider what is to be done in this present crisis to maintain its authority and ensure that its primary responsibility is to maintain international peace and security as required by the UN Founding Charter.
Governor Owens concluded the meeting by inviting Dr Janez Drnovšek to visit Colorado.
The select group that attended the lunch included the Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the Mongolian Prime Minister Nambar Enkhbayar and a number prominent US business figures, including Steve Forbes.
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Office of the President of the Republic
Erjavčeva 17
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
phone: +386 1 478 12 22
fax: +386 1 478 13 57
gp.uprs@up-rs.si
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