US Vice President Joe Biden delivered a major speech on his visit to Central Europe in Bucharest, Romania on October 22, 2009. On this occasion the American Centre and the Association for International Affairs organized a commented public projection of the event. Biden’s trip followed a recent trip by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which included a stop in Moscow for talks with Russian leaders. Representatives of the US Embassy who participated in the panel considered the above-standard number of visits of top level American decision makers in the Czech Republic in the course of this year as a proof of the high importance of the Czech Republic and Central Europe as a whole for the US.
In his speech Joe Biden highlighted the partnership and the coalition between the United States and democratic Europe, saying: “I come here today with a straightforward, simple message: The United States and Europe, a Europe whole and united, will meet these challenges (among other things, economic crisis, spread of weapons of mass destruction and dangerous diseases) together, for that’s the only way they can be met”. The Vice President also touched upon issues such as missile defense and the role of Russian in the region of Central Europe. Finally, he mentioned the leadership of Central Europeans in providing advocacy of democracy that should help guide Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine along the path of lasting stability and prosperity. He praised the EU Eastern Partnership Initiative as a good example of how we can energize the effort.
In light of technical problems that marked the projection the panelists Kimberly Krhounek (US Embassy in Paris), David Gainer (US Embassy in Prague), Eric Best (The Fleet Sheet) and Adam Černý (Hospodarske noviny) faced a difficult task to comment the speech. Kimberly Krhounek stressed the connection between Central Europe and global issues that is cause of increasing importance of the region. David Gainer pointed out the endeavor of Central European countries to promote democracy. He mentioned for example the Czech non-governmental organization People in Need. Regarding the missile defense issue he emphasized the sovereign right of each country to make decision on its own which Americans respect and are willing to protect. Eric Best perceived Biden’s both visit and speech as a sequel of Obama’s April visit. Adam Černý said that the importance of the speech is in its timing – it was the first speech after the decision change on the missile defense system.
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- AMO
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