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 Terrorist Attack 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 the 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
