Slovakia had one of the weakest positions on the market of strategic investments in central and eastern Europe in the period between 1995 and 2002. The Czech Republic was the most successful country in this period, achieving a tripled volume of strategic investment per capita and a six-times higher share in total strategic investments in central and eastern Europe. Thus the Slovak government has elaborated a draft National Support Strategy for Investments which should reform the support system for strategic investments in Slovakia.

Greater orientation towards the creation of strategic investments with higher added value, their creation in prospective branches and less developed regions, as well as increased creation of strategic investments on lower costs are among the basic goals of the proposed concept. The cabinet proposes to finance key measures from the National Development Plan of Slovakia for the years 2004 to 2006, while it is submitting three alternatives. The first one suggests the direct creation of about 30,000 jobs; the second counts on 42,000 new jobs and the third variant estimates the number of created jobs at 53,400.

The Economy Ministry recommends the third alternative to the cabinet within which 59 percent of total development plan funds should be allocated to support the creation of strategic investments. The ministry proposes allocating EUR 180 million for building industrial parks. Grants for the creation of new jobs, re-training, developed technologies and research and development should consume EUR 641 million. An additional EUR 6.8 million should be used for marketing activities linked with promotion of Slovakia with the aim of supporting investments.

The second possibility is to finance the National Strategy from the state budget or public budgets, but this would mean a significant burden on the state budget. The cabinet is scheduled to deal with this material in the near future.