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EU membership is the top priority
 Slovakia is making a valiant effort to put itself in the ranks of the more advanced states emerging from the ruins of communism in central Europe. It is trying to make up for the time lost during the stultifying rule of the authoritarian former prime minister, Vladimir Meciar, who dominated the country for most of the 1990s ...more
ECONOMY:
Boost in exports but uncertainty prevails
Blacksmith Robert Rigo and his six workers are living off exports: selling garden furniture to Italy and elsewhere in western Europe. But with the domestic economy in recession, Mr Rigo cannot afford to expand ...more
BANKING:
On fast track to the private sector
The Slovak government has launched one of the most ambitious banking privatisation programmes in former communist central Europe to save what had been one of the region's most fragile banking systems ...more
GOVERNMENT:
Divisions continue to cause turmoil
Political instability, and particularly the possibility of the return to power of former premier Vladimir Meciar, remains the key concern for Slovakia's foreign partners and potential investors ...more
TELECOMS:
Privatisation mode engaged
The privatisation of Slovak Telecom, one of the last national carriers in central Europe without a foreign strategic partner, should finally happen this summer, five years after its counterpart in the Czech Republic and four years after the first plan was drawn up ...more
INDUSTRY:
Workforce pays a heavy price
ZTS was once the biggest industrial group in Czechoslovakia, employing 85,000 workers, a quarter of them involved in defence, at a time when the country was one of the world's top arms producers ...more
AUTOS:
Expansion drive by VW
Volkswagen, the biggest exporter and foreign investor in Slovakia, is significantly expanding its diversified manufacturing operations in the country for cars, gearboxes and parts ...more
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