History of SFPA

Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) was established in August 1993 as an open impartial forum enabling discussion on international issues and the Slovak foreign policy.

The initiator and founder of the association was then ambassador Magda Vášáryová. Other founding members of the association included, among others, Rudolf Chmel, Pavol Demeš, Dominik Bartosiewicz and other public figures. Magda Vášáryová served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the association from its founding in 1993 until 2000. Professor Juraj Stern has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2000.
Until 1995, the core SFPA activities consisted in organizing public events serving as discussion forums on topics related to Slovak foreign policy within the scope of the Modern Foreign Policy and Jour-Fixe programs.

In 1995, the SFPA Research Centre (RC SFPA) was founded as an integral part of SFPA. The centre became the first independent non-governmental think tank in the Slovak Republic specializing exclusively in the field of international relations research.

In 1997, the associations launched its first bimonthly periodical titled SFPA Letters. The publication originally served as an information bulletin for SFPA members. Later on, with SFPA Letters serving as the basic platform, the first Slovak foreign policy magazine was founded: Foreign Policy was first issued in 2005 and since 2013, it has been available in digital version as the www.zahranicnapolitika.sk online portal.

Also in 1995, the first RC SFPA regional office was established in Prešov, which is still active today. Between 1998 and 2006, there was a regional office in Banská Bystrica and SFPA later cooperated with the Euro-Atlantic Centre in organizing public events in Banská Bystrica. In 2005-2007, SFPA also operated a regional office in Žilina.
Moreover, SFPA debate clubs were regularly held at secondary schools across various cities in Slovakia between 1999 and 2009.

Together with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, SFPA is the founder of the Research Centre of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, a non-profit organisation. It was established on 30 January 2004 by a transformation of the Slovak Institute of International Studies, a former state contribution-based organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic.