Yearbook of Slovakia's Foreign Policy 2007
The Yearbook of Slovakia’s Foreign Policy is a unique project which has for the past nine years been, we hope that successfully, contributing to the development of the tradition of the regular evaluation and analysis of the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic in the given year and supporting the cultivation of the foreign policy debate. This publication represents a significant and at the same time the only book source keeping record of the development of Slovakia’s foreign policy and the discussion on its further direction. The foreign policy of every country needs to build its own traditions especially in the case of a young state such as the Slovak Republic. Should the foreign policy be successful it must have its own form, its own language and its own institutions. In this sense under the term institutions it is necessary to comprehend not only the buildings of state bodies which are occupied by those who are responsible for the formulation and implementation of foreign policy. In a democratic state the public discussion is a part of the formulation of all public policies and foreign policy is not an exception. It is very important that public discussion gains institutional forms which become a tradition because without traditions there is no continuity and the absence of continuity means the repetition of old mistakes and always starting from point zero. In other words tradition is institutionalized memory. New knowledge is impossible without memory and without knowledge there can be no good political decisions. That is why traditions are so important especially in an area such as the foreign policy of a state. In this context it is possible to see the exceptionality of this publication as a ‘tradition’ as well as its specific position in the public debate on Slovakia’s foreign policy. It is a unique forum primarily dedicated to Slovakia’s foreign policy which provides space for those who bear the responsibility for the realization of the foreign policy of this country and those who are not indifferent to Slovakia’s foreign policy. The Yearbook serves for the exchange of opinions, knowledge, experience, positions and arguments with the goal of improving the quality of decisions in the area of foreign policy to best serve the interests of this country. We are convinced that it is very important to regularly evaluate the state of Slovakia’s foreign policy, which crucial events occurred in the past year and what challenges stand before the Slovak Republic in the near future. These were the main goals and intentions of the previous Yearbook editions; we prepared this year’s edition with identical objectives and we believe that we will do the same in the following years. The 2007 Yearbook evaluates the year of our foreign policy in the traditional structure. It analyzes Slovakia’s operation in the international environment, the realization of the priority areas of our foreign policy as well as the effectiveness of the instruments of its implementation. The introductory contribution of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic is however an exception compared to previous years. It summarizes and evaluates the foreign policy of the past 12 months from the viewpoint of the person bearing the responsibility for the formulation and implementation of foreign policy throughout the electoral term. This text thematically corresponds to individual chapters in the Yearbook which gives the reader the unique opportunity of seeing the same issue from two different angles. The expert section of the Yearbook is opened by the contribution of Vladimír Bilčík from the Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association who focuses on the process of the completion of the integration process as well as the challenge of the active contribution to the formation of the future EU which stands before the SR in the upcoming period. Our Permanent Representative to the UN Peter Burian evaluated the goals and conditions of our operation in the UN Security Council, analyzed threats and their solutions and didn’t leave out a thorough analysis of our February presidency. Tomáš Valášek, the Director of Foreign Policy and Defense at the Centre for European Reform in London, concluded the first chapter with his view of the Slovak security policy and our operation in foreign missions. The second section of the Yearbook devoted to the priority areas of our foreign policy is opened by the article of the High Representative of the International Community for Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Miroslav Lajčák. In his contribution on Slovak policy in the Western Balkans he instigates a reflection upon how most of all the EU but also NATO could strengthen our positions and how to maintain our long-term specialization on this agenda. Tomáš Strážay, RC SFPA analyst, focused his attention on the successes and some problematic areas of the cooperation of V4 countries as well as to the resolutions which they were not able to fulfill but which could increase the significance and effectiveness of the V4 in the near future. Alexander Duleba, RC SFPA Director and Head of the East European research program, attempted to evaluate the development of the political and economic agenda of Slovak relations with its eastern partners in the year 2007 including the fulfillment of the new foreign policy priority – the economic dimension of Slovak diplomacy. The contribution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the SR to external energy security was addressed in the article of Ján Šoth, the Director of the Analyses and Policy Planning Department and the Head of the Standing Work Group on External Energy Security. The concluding part of the expert section which is devoted to the institutional background and foreign policy instruments is opened by the contribution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary General Marcel Peško on the modernization of the Slovak Foreign Service and the future character of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. The representatives of the Slovak Non-Governmental Development Platform Eva Havelková and Nora Beňáková focused on the functioning of presumably the most important bilateral instrument of the Slovak foreign policy in the year 2007 – development assistance. The authors offered their view of the institutional and legislative changes in the Slovak ODA and tried to compare the territorial and sector objectives of bilateral projects in the periods before and after the realization of said changes. The expert segment of the Yearbook is closed by the contribution of the Director of the International Economic Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic Jaroslav Chlebo which is devoted to the possibly most frequently cited collocation in this electoral term – the economic dimension of diplomacy. The expert section is traditionally supplemented by annexes such as the chronology of the most important foreign policy events, chosen political documents, a list of international treaties, information on the structure and representatives of state administrative bodies operating in foreign policy, a list of diplomatic missions and representatives of the SR abroad, SR diplomatic bodies, military missions abroad etc. We firmly believe that also this year’s Yearbook edition will find its readers and serve to all those who are interested in the past, present and future of Slovakia as well as its foreign policy. In conclusion we would like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the SR for its cooperation in this project and its support as well as for the fact that, also thanks to this institution, we can continue in building this much needed tradition.
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