President of the Slovak Republic visits CERN

On 11 September 2012, the President of the Slovak Republic, Ivan Gašparovič, visited CERN accompanied by the First Lady and a delegation of 67, including the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Economy and the Ambassadors of the Slovak Republic to Switzerland, France and the Office of the United Nations.

The visit by representatives of the Slovak Republic follows the Slovak Republic’s hosting of the CERN Accelerator School in the region of Bratislava. After being welcomed to CERN in the morning by CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer, the members of the Slovak government were given the opportunity to get a glimpse of the LHC and to visit the ALICE experiment at Point 2.

The President and other members of the Slovak delegation then met representatives of Slovak universities and industries at an exhibition of their work in the hall of Building 500. The President then briefly spoke to Slovak journalists and signed the VIP visitors book. The visit lasted two and a half hours. It ended with an exchange of presents and a last handshake and then it was time to go.

The President of the Slovak Republic, Ivan Gašparovič, and CERN DG Rolf Heuer (center), together with First Lady Silvia Gašparovičová (left) and Karel Safarik, Physics and Computing Group Leader for the PH department's ALICE team (right).

by Caroline Duc