[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 21, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 21, 1994]



                        SLOVAK HERITAGE FESTIVAL

                                 ______


                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 1994

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, September 25, 1994, the 19th 
annual Slovak Heritage Festival will be held at the Garden State Arts 
Center in Holmdel, NJ. In past years, this event has attracted between 
10,000 and 15,000 participants, and I expect this year's event to be 
just as big of a success.
  The theme of Sunday's festival will be ``promoting Slovak Republic 
investments and business.'' A business trade show will be going on 
throughout the day, focusing on free trade and economic development in 
Slovakia. Business people from Slovakia's capital of Bratislava will be 
on hand, as well as representatives from the U.S. Departments of 
Commerce and Justice, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and 
various other American and Slovak business leaders and exhibitors. In 
its brief history, the Slovak Republic has made great progress in 
fostering a climate for investment and free enterprise. The competition 
in today's world economy is intense, and the Slovak Republic faces 
particularly strong competition from its neighbors in the former East 
bloc nations all of whom are hungry for the opportunity to compete in 
the global economy and provide their citizens with a higher standard of 
living after decades of living under a Soviet-style command economy. 
But I am confident that the reform efforts begun in Slovakia will bear 
fruit. Furthermore, this economic reform process and the effort to woo 
international investment has the advantage of strong support from the 
Slovak-American community.
  Mr. Speaker, while the Slovak Republic is a very young nation, having 
been born on January 1, 1993, Slovakia is a nation with deep historical 
roots. The Slovak Festival has provided an opportunity for people of 
Slovak descent to celebrate their proud and enduring culture. It also 
gives people from other ethnic backgrounds a chance to learn about a 
nation and a people who have not received the degree of understanding 
and appreciation to which they are entitled. Through the years of 
oppression and foreign domination, most recently under the grip of the 
now-defunct Soviet empire, the people of Slovakia have held on to their 
language, their culture, their way of life--in a word, their nation. A 
large share of the credit should go to the Slovak community in the 
United States, who supported their brothers and sisters during those 
hard years under communism. In 1989, the Slovak people played a major 
role in the Velvet revolution that toppled the Soviet-imposed Communist 
puppet regime.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to see that the U.S.-Slovak relations are 
moving forward in a positive direction. The Partnership for Peace, 
which would bring former Warsaw Pact nations into NATO, was proposed by 
President Clinton during his state visit to Europe earlier this year. 
Admittedly, this limited framework was somewhat disappointing to the 
leaders in Slovakia, as well as the other central European nations, but 
it is an important first step. Former Prime Minister Meciar signed the 
partnership agreement in February. Since then, President Clinton sent 
congratulatory greetings to Jozef Mavcik after he was sworn in as Prime 
Minister on March 16. In April, new Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan 
visited this country, and Secretary of State Christopher expressed U.S. 
support for and interest in Slovakia's reform efforts.
  In an effort to move the integration of Slovakia and other central 
European countries into the Western fold, I have cosponsored the 
legislation introduced by our colleague from New York, Mr. Gilman, 
known as the NATO Expansion Act, expressing the sense of the Congress 
that Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland be given full 
NATO membership by 1999 at the latest, and proposing U.S. transition 
assistance during this process, including joint military exercises.
  I also with to thank another one of our colleagues, Mr. Holden of 
Pennsylvania, for his leadership in introducing House Joint Resolution 
287, designating August 1994 and 1995 as National Slovak-American 
Heritage Month. THe resolution recognizes the accomplishments and 
celebrates the contribution of Slovak culture to the American melting 
pot.
  Mr. Speaker, Sunday's Slovak Heritage Festival will be a wonderful 
celebration of the excellence of Slovak culture and the warmth of the 
Slovak people. The festival will begin with a Byzantine Catholic Mass, 
and the day will be filled with music, dancing, traditional costumes, 
arts and crafts, and souvenirs. Those of us from New Jersey who will 
have the opportunity to attend this special event are very fortunate 
indeed. I would particularly like to extend my congratulations to the 
festival chairman, Joseph J. Talafous, and the many Slovak fraternal 
organizations from New Jersey and throughout the United States who have 
worked so hard to make Sunday's festival a memorable occasion.

                          ____________________