A meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Washington was the first item on the agenda of Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Ján Kubiš's visit to the United States, which began on February 12.
Kubiš informed Negroponte of the progress that Slovakia has made towards meeting the security criteria required for the country to be accepted into the Visa Waiver Programme.
Kubiš also met Alcee Hastings and Benjamin Cardin, co-chairmen of the U.S. Congress Helsinki Commission, with whom he discussed preparations for a visit by a delegation from the Commission to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.
Kubiš then met Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, who has been very active in pushing through an amendment aimed at abolishing visas for CEE countries, including Slovakia, as soon as possible. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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