Slovakia’s Security and Foreign Policy Strategy 

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., in cooperation with the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) in Bratislava started a series of Slovak-American security roundtables in 1997. On the basis of this collaboration, CSIS and the SFPA initiated in November 2000 the creation of the U.S.-Slovakia Action Commission, which consisted of the following three working groups: business conditions, banking reform, and security and foreign policy.

The start-up of the commission during 2000 was marked by measurable progress. Commission members and staff have held 75 working meetings in Bratislava and Washington, D.C. Practical recommendations were submitted to the Slovak government in the areas of economics, security, and foreign policy. The commission’s three working groups involve leaders of top U.S. and Slovak banks and businesses and respected foreign and security policy experts.

Meetings of the Security and Foreign Policy Working Group brought together U.S. and Slovak security and foreign policy experts and officials who deliberated on the challenges to European security, the roles of the United States, Slovakia, NATO, and the EU, and regional Central-East European issues at the beginning of the new millennium. This U.S.-Slovakia Action Commission Policy Paper on Slovakia’s security and foreign policy strategy represents a product of these joint efforts.