Annual Report Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic 2008

in the context of international cooperation in the
given area. It also has a positive impact on the local
economy. The inauguration is planned for the
second half of 2009.
In accordance with Slovakia’s efforts to
strengthen cooperation with UNESCO, a Permanent
Delegate of the Slovak Republic to UNESCO
in Paris was appointed to the rank of ambassador.
Slovakia participated in the meetings of intergovernmental
committees, councils of international
UNESCO programmes, and negotiations of the
Executive Board as well as those bodies of which
Slovakia is a member: the International Coordination
Council of the Programme on Man and the
Biosphere, the consultative Bioethics Committee
of COMEST, the Intergovernmental Bioethics
Committee (IGBS), and the Intergovernmental
Committee of the International Hydrological Programme
(IHP) (the Slovak Republic was elected
vice-chairman). In cooperation with appropriate
departments (the Ministry of Culture and the
Ministry of Education), Slovakia strived to ensure
the effective implementation of those international
legal instruments of which it is a signatory
party, especially three UNESCO conventions: the
International Convention against Doping in Sport,
the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of
Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the UNESCO
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of
the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
In July 2008, at the meeting in Canadian Quebec,
the World Heritage Committee approved the
inscription of the Wooden Churches of the Slovak
part of the Carpathian Mountain Area onto the
UNESCO World Heritage List.
On 11 November 2008 under the auspices of
the UNESCO Director General and in cooperation
with UNESCO, the Slovak Commission for
UNESCO along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Slovak Republic organized an international
conference in Bratislava on the 60 th anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights entitled New Ethical and Social Challenges.
Slovak experts were actively involved in the
technical improvement of the large hadron collider
(LHC) and associated devices as well as in the
transfer of technology within the European Organization
for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva.
This can be seen on one hand as evidence of Slovakia’s
strong representation both in the management
of CERN and the scientific community and
on the other as promoting the economic interests
of our country. Slovakia was also a member of the
CERN Finance and Scientific Policy Committee.
The most significant event within CERN was the
launch of the LHC and the accompanying inauguration
ceremony on 21 October 2008 where Slovakia
was represented by the Deputy Prime Minister
and the Minister of Education, Ján Mikolaj.
Slovakia in OPCW
On 5 March 2008, Slovakia was unanimously
elected Chairman of the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Executive
Council based in The Hague for the period of
12 May 2008 to 11 May 2009. While holding this
position, Slovakia has been fulfilling its ambitions
in improving the efficiency of the OPCW decisionmaking
process, especially in relation to the implementation
of individual articles of the Chemi-
95 members of the AF
SR who returned from
the UNDOF mission in
the Golan Heights were
awarded medals for their
service in peacekeeping
and observer missions
by the Slovak Defence
Minister Jaroslav Baška,
Michalovce, June 2008
22