FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Slovakia officially became a member of the NATO on March 29, 2004 and joined the EU in May 2004. Slovakia has been an active participant in U.S. and NATO-led military actions and a partner in the war on terrorism. A military engineering brigade on the ground in Iraq from August 2003 departed in February 2007. A 57-man military engineering brigade is present at Kadahar airbase in Afghanistan, and the Slovak Parliament approved in December 2007 an increase in Slovakia's commitment to ISAF that will bring the total deployment to 115 in 2008. Slovakia participates in a joint Czech-Slovak peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
Slovakia is a member of the United Nations and participates in its specialized agencies. It is a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the OECD. It also is part of the Visegrad Four (Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Poland), a forum for discussing areas of common concern. Upon the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Slovakia and the Czech Republic entered into a customs union, which facilitates a relatively free flow of goods and services. On December 21, 2007, Slovakia joined the Schengen zone. Slovakia maintains diplomatic relations with 134 countries. There are 35 embassies and 26 honorary consulates in Bratislava.
U.S.-SLOVAKIA
RELATIONS
The fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989 and the subsequent split of the two republics on January 1, 1993, allowed for renewed cooperation between the United States and Slovakia. The election of a pro-Western, reformist government in late 1998 further boosted close ties between the countries. The United States delivered more than $200 million after 1990 to support the rebuilding of a healthy democracy and market economy in Slovakia, primarily through programs administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Slovakia and the United States retain strong diplomatic ties and cooperate in the military and law enforcement areas. The U.S. Department of Defense programs have contributed significantly to Slovak military reforms.
Millions of Americans have their roots in Slovakia, and many retain strong cultural and familial ties to the Slovak Republic. President Woodrow Wilson and the United States played a major role in the establishment of the original Czechoslovak state on October 28, 1918, and President Wilson's Fourteen Points were the basis for the union of the Czechs and Slovaks. Tomas Masaryk, the father of the Czechoslovak state and its first president, visited the United States during World War I and used the U.S. Constitution as a model for the first Czechoslovak Constitution.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The armed forces of the Slovak Republic number about 18,000 uniformed personnel
and are made up of Land Forces, Air Forces (which includes air defense forces)
and a Joint Training and Doctrine Command. Land forces consist of two mechanized
infantry brigades, one with two mech battalions (BMP-1), a tank battalion
(T-72), and a combined artillery battalion. The other brigade has three mech
battalions (BMP-2). Each maneuver brigade is or is planned to be task organized
with combat support units, such as an artillery battalion, an engineer
battalion, a logistics support battalion, and an air defense battery. Other land
forces include a separate NBC battalion, engineer battalion, ISTAR company,
signal battalion and command support battalion. Air and Air Defense Forces are
comprised of a fighter wing of MiG-29s, a wing of Mi-24 attack and Mi-17 utility
helicopters, and a SAM brigade. Military police are under the command of the
Ministry of Defense and a special operations regiment falls under the Land
Forces Command. The armed forces are among the most respected national
institutions according to national opinion polls.
Slovakia's ambitious roadmap for defense reform is the Force 2015 Long-Term Plan, which strikes a well-reasoned balance between requirements and resources and envisions a professionalized, combat-capable force of 18,000 uniformed personnel. Slovakia has about 530 personnel deployed to coalition and NATO-led operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as UN-led peace support operations (PSOs) worldwide. Defense spending was 1.6% of GDP in 2006.
Principal U.S. Embassy Officials
Ambassador--Vincent Obsitnik
Deputy Chief of Mission--Larry Silverman
Political/Economic Chief -- Susan Ball
Economic Officer--William Laitinen
Commercial Officer--David Ponsar
Consul--Robin Haase
Management Officer--Charles Eaton
The U.S. Embassy in Slovakia is located at Hviezdoslavovo namestie 4, 811 02 Bratislava (tel: 421-2-5443-0861 or 421-2-5443-3338; fax: 421-2-5443-0096). Duty hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The embassy is closed on U.S. and Slovak holidays.
