Ambassador Weiser Marks Twelve Years of Service by Peace Corps in Slovakia
Ambassador Weiser Marks Twelve Years of Service by Peace Corps in Slovakia
U.S. Ambassador Ronald Weiser hosted the official closing ceremony for the Slovak mission of the United States Peace Corps on Friday, June 14, 2002 at 14:00 at the Primate's Palace in Bratislava. Speakers included Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Kukan, Ambassador Weiser, and several present and former Peace Corps volunteers. Among the distinguished guests was Chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Peter Weiss.
Since 1990, 345 Peace Corps Volunteers, working for periods of 2 years, have served as teachers of English or as consultants and advisors in the environmental, small business and NGO development fields. Over these past 12 years Volunteers have lived and worked in more than 100 cities, towns and villages all across Slovakia. They have taught English to 40,000 Slovak youth, worked in 14 national parks and other protected areas, provided assistance to 36 local governments and 96 business organizations and NGOs. While Volunteers implemented many hundreds of projects with their Slovak colleagues, 150 of these took advantage of nearly three quarters of a million dollars of funding made available through the Peace Corps.
Peace Corps, a U.S. government agency, was founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to promote world peace and friendship by providing American volunteers, of all ages and backgrounds, to serve in interested countries worldwide. Since its founding, 165,000 Americans have served as Volunteers in 135 countries. At present, there are 7,000 Volunteers serving in 70 countries.
Originally envisioned to help people in the developing world, Peace Corps began to establish programs in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 to participate in the transition to a new socio-economic order. A Peace Corps program was initiated in the then Czechoslovakia in 1990 at the request of President Vaclav Havel. In 1994 an independent office was established in Slovakia following the split of the Czech and Slovak Republics.
The last group of Volunteers to serve in Slovakia arrived in June 2000 and will finish their service in July 2002. The Peace Corps is ending its presence in Slovakia in recognition of the significant progress that has been made over the past 12 years. At the same time, it will close its posts in the three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
While Peace Corps is departing from Central Europe, it is adding to its existing programs in other regions. Most recently, new Peace Corps posts have been established in Peru and East Timor.
