Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Kubis said that the U.S. administration highly appreciates the falling trend in rejected visa applications from Slovak citizens. One of the criteria for Slovakia to be included in the visa waiver system is less than 10 percent of turned-down visa applications. If this trend continues, we may meet this condition this year, Mr. Kubis told SITA news agency. The minister is paying an official visit to the United States. He added that all current talks with U.S. partners confirm that Slovakia is on its way, but the country has to meet all criteria required for entry to the visa waiver system. The upcoming presidential elections may speed up the decisions of the U.S. administration. They can affect Slovakia positively because the departing administration wants to achieve success in this area, according to the minister. He emphasized that cancellation of visa duty for the new NATO and EU member states was one of the priorities of incumbent president George Bush. As he added, Slovakia has to do "its homework" too.
During talks with American partners, Mr. Kubis felt no pressure on Slovakia to change its negative position toward the potential independence of southern Serbian breakaway province Kosovo. He reiterated that Slovakia would not change its stance and does not plan to recognize an independent Kosovo in the event of a unilateral declaration of independence. The minister added that Slovakia, as an EU member, wants to contribute to stability of this region and would support the deployment of the EULEX mission to Kosovo. The U.S. side acknowledged this fact even though they would be happy if Slovakia joined them in recognizing an independent Kosovo as soon as possible. There was an exchange of differing opinions but no pressure, Mr. Kubis concluded.
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