IN A meeting in Washington, DC, on April 9, US president George W Bush told Slovak president Rudolf Schuster that the US administration had prepared reconstruction plans for Iraq and that Slovakia would have a role to play.
Bush asked Schuster to thank the families of Slovak soldiers in Kuwait. Slovakia was among the countries that expressed support for US-led action in Iraq, sending a unit of 75 chemical specialists to Camp Doha in Kuwait to assist in humanitarian aid efforts in the event of a chemical attack.
Bush said he expected Slovakia to be a strong member of NATO after it joins in 2004. Schuster agreed, saying, "We can contribute with production and development of some military systems where we have good experience. A lot of jobs can thus also be created [in Slovakia]."