Foreign relations of Slovakia


has been a member of European Union since 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.
Slovak Republic 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, the World Trade Organization, and the OECD. It also is part of the Visegrad Four, a forum for discussing areas of common concern. Slovak Republic 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. Slovak Republic maintains diplomatic relations with 134 countries, primarily through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are 44 embassies and 35 honorary consulates in Bratislava.

International disputes

Liechtenstein

claims restitution of land in Slovakia confiscated from its princely family in 1918 by the then newly established state of Czechoslovakia, the predecessor of the Slovak Republic. The Slovak Republic insists that the power to claim restitution does not go back before February 1948, when the Communists seized power. Slovakia and Liechtenstein established diplomatic relations on 9 December 2009.

Hungary

Bilateral government, legal, technical and economic working group negotiations continued in 2006 between Slovakia and Hungary over Hungary's completion of its portion of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric dam project along the Danube.

International human rights criticisms

Persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang
In October 2019, British UN Ambassador Karen Pierce delivered a joint international statement on Xinjiang at the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee on behalf of 23 countries, including Slovakia. The countries said they shared concerns raised by the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination regarding “credible reports of mass detention; efforts to restrict cultural and religious practices; mass surveillance disproportionately targeting ethnic Uyghurs; and other human rights violations and abuses.” They called on China to comply with its national and international obligations to respect human rights, including freedom of religion, and allow UN human rights monitors access to detention centers.
Hong Kong national security law
In June 2020, Slovakia openly opposed the Hong Kong national security law

Illicit drug trafficking

point for Southwest Asian heroin bound for Western Europe, producer of synthetic drugs for regional market.

Bilateral relations

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

Oceania