Foreign relations of Slovakia

Slovakia is a leading candidate for NATO accession at the Prague summit[?] in November 2002 and hopes to enter the European Union in 2004. Slovakia has been an active participant in U.S.- and NATO-led military actions. There is a joint Czech-Slovak peacekeeping force in Kosovo. After the September 11, 2001 attacks[?] on the United States, the government opened its airspace to coalition planes. In June 2002, Slovakia announced that they would send an engineering brigade to Afghanistan.

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. Slovakia and the Czech Republic entered into a Customs Union[?] upon the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, which facilitates a relatively free flow of goods and services. Slovakia maintains diplomatic relations[?] with 134 countries. There are 35 embassies and 26 honorary consulates in Bratislava.

Disputes - international: ongoing Gabcikovo Dam[?] dispute with Hungary; agreement with Czech Republic signed November 24 1998 resolves issues of redistribution of former Czechoslovak federal property - approval by both parliaments is expected in 2000

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin bound for Western Europe

See also : Slovakia