2007 Events

Ambassador Vallee Promotes Roma Integration, IT Valley Košice

In a two-day visit to Eastern Slovakia February 12-13, Ambassador Rodolphe Vallee inspected conditions at the Vyšné Nemecké border crossing and was briefed on Slovak Border Police efforts to halt trafficking in persons and illegal migration. He visited an integrated school in the Roma-majority community of Blatné Remety and met with a family which had adopted five Roma orphaned children. He heard about the local economy and living conditions of Roma from the mayors of Sobrance and Sečovce. In a meeting with Košice Mayor František Knapík, along with representatives of information technology companies and two universities, he expressed strong U.S. Embassy support for the nascent IT Valley initiative, linking private sector and higher education resources. While in Košice, Ambassador Vallee visited the elementary school in Luník IX (in photo), where Director Viera Sotterová and Father Jozef Červeň explained the community's efforts to provide computer education and job opportunities for the 5,000 Roma living there.