The factual priorities of the embassies’ agenda in promoting exports and coordinating the inflow of foreign direct investment were defined by the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO), and other central government bodies. It coordinated the activities of the Joint Slovak-Hungarian Commission for Minority Affairs, which had been established pursuant to the Protocol between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary, as well as the Intergovernmental Slovak-Ukrainian Commission on National Minorities, Education and Culture, which had been established pursuant to the Treaty on Good Neighbourhood, Friendly Relations and Co-operation between the Slovak Republic and Ukraine.
Current experience has confirmed a need for a unified, coordinated and systemically targeted presentation of Slovakia abroad by all members of the Council of the Government – by the government, non-governmental organisations and self-governing bodies.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the coordinator of this process, committed to create an expert forum, the activities of which should result in a nationwide discussion or the organization of a discussion round table attended by experts and representatives of the nongovernmental sector.
This activity is coordinated by a joint inter-ministerial group, which proposed joint priorities for the presentation of culture in line with the foreign-policy priorities of the Slovak Republic, also taking into account the adopted bilateral and multilateral commitments of the Slovak Republic.
By virtue of the provisions Direction of Slovak Foreign and European Policy in 2014 [1], besides pursuing European policy, Slovak diplomacy has coordination competences in a number of related areas. The third area of our country’s foreign policy activities is economic diplomacy and the coordinated presentation of Slovakia abroad. The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic (MFEA) will, in accordance with the Competence Act, coordinate Slovakia’s pursuit of its commercial and economic interests abroad, and coordinated presentation of the country. Slovakia will be focusing on the other two pillars of the strengthened economic and monetary union by emphasising the thorough implementation of existing fiscal and economic policy mechanisms, supporting better coordination of economic policies in the EU, and encouraging efforts aimed at achieving the Europe 2020 strategy objectives.
The Slovak presidency will strive to step up coordination among V4 members in regional priority areas, as well as in external policy, and promote shared standpoints on current foreign and European policy issues.
Slovakia will coordinate its foreign policy primarily with other EU Member States within the framework of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. Slovakia would like to see an EU whose external actions are unified, coordinated and comprehensive, who can proactively respond to crises worldwide making effective use of its instruments and policies, and who holds consultations on global issues with strategic partners in particular.
Literature:
1. Direction of Slovak Foreign and European Policy in 2014 // http://www.mzv.sk/documents/30297/2568657/140214+2014+Direction+of+Slovak+Foreign +and+European+Policy+2014.pdf
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