Readout of the President’s Dinner with Central and Eastern European Leaders

The President hosted leaders from eleven Central and Eastern European countries for dinner tonight in Prague. Each leader congratulated the President on the historic signing of the New START agreement between the United States and Russia earlier today.

In discussing European security, the President’s counterparts expressed their view that the improvement in relations between Washington and Moscow has reduced tensions and created new opportunities for them to improve their relations with Russia.

The leaders agreed that the Atlantic Alliance is central to our shared interests and to global security.  The President affirmed the importance of ensuring that Article 5 remains relevant to meeting 21st century threats.

The leaders also reaffirmed their support and commitment to the NATO mission in Afghanistan and the President thanked each of them for their country’s significant contributions and sacrifices there.

The leaders agreed on the importance of effectively addressing Iran’s failure to meet its international obligations, and of promoting stability in the Balkans.

The President met with:

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria,

Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor of Croatia,

President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer of the Czech Republic,

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia,

Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai of Hungary,

President Valdis Zatlers of Latvia,

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius of Lithuania,

Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland , Prime Minister,

President Traian Basescu of Romania,

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, and

Prime Minister Borut Pahor of Slovenia.