On January 15, 2004 the CSIS East European Project, together with Friends of Slovakia (FOS), hosted a meeting of the U.S.-Slovakia Security and Foreign Policy Working Group with guest speakers Ivan Korcok, State Secretary at the Slovak Foreign Ministry, H.E. Rastislav Kacer, Slovak Ambassador to the United States and Ivo Samson, Senior Research Fellow at the Slovak Foreign Policy Association. The meeting addressed the evolving agenda of U.S.-Slovak relations and explored emerging areas of bilateral cooperation. The panelists also discussed Slovakia's role as a catalyst for the spread of democracy within a wider Europe and outlined the successes and challenges that Slovakia faces on the road to EU and NATO membership. The meeting was co-chaired by Janusz Bugajski, Director of the East European Project at CSIS and Theodore Russell, former U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia.