2003 Press Releases

Aid to Slovakia Restored

Bratislava, December 8, 2003

U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia Ronald Weiser would like to expand on the very positive news about President Bush exercising his authority on November 21 to grant Slovakia a waiver under the American Service Members' Protection Act. Several of our close allies that are NATO invitees merited and received these waivers to the Act that froze military aid as of July 1, 2003.

The Ambassador welcomes this waiver as a further indication of the strong commitment and very positive relationship between Slovakia and the Untied States. This waiver returns to Slovakia substantially all of the aid (more than $15 million) that had been temporarily put on hold, and allows the Embassy to move forward in disbursing this aid through cooperative programs with the Slovak military. The projects covered include support for NATO interoperability and NATO integration as well as support for Slovakia's efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The freeze on July 1 only applied to those funds not allocated and approved for specific programs. Many millions of dollars of aid has continued to flow to programs that were already underway and the more than $10,000,000 of programs that were approved immediately prior to the freeze.

This waiver will become a permanent waiver for all future military aid of May 15, 2004, when Slovakia becomes a full member of NATO.

The U.S. Embassy in Bratislava helped President Bush become aware of the fact that the ten month freeze could have an adverse impact on Slovakia and the other new NATO aspirants. Upon learning this, the President executed the waivers.