Estonia's ex-president Kersti Kaljulaid receives Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award

  • 2023-05-31
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – Former Estonian president Kersti Kaljulaid received the Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award at the Globsec Conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Tuesday.

The ex-president said at the award ceremony that, as an Estonian, when accepting this award, she feels that she is being told, at this so crucial moment in history, that no one of us can be humble in defending our achievements if we do not want to return to the era of the Peloponnesian War.

The CSTA is an original initiative of the Jagello 2000 Association from the Czech Republic and implemented jointly by Jagello 2000 and the Slovak Atlantic Commission since 2012.

Within this initiative, the two organizations annually recognize personalities, who have substantially contributed to freedom and democracy in Central Europe, to strengthening of the transatlantic relations and integration of Central Europe to Euro-Atlantic Institutions. The awards are presented two times a year -- in spring in Slovakia at the Bratislava Global Security Forum GLOBSEC and in autumn at the NATO Days in Ostrava and Czech Air Force Days in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Former recipients of the award include former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, prominent US diplomat and political analyst Ron Asmus, former prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Sweden Carl Bildt, former United States Army Europe commander Gen. Ben Hodges, and former NATO secretary general and ex-premier of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Last year's recipients of the award included the Ukrainian nation.