Next year Slovak communities living abroad will have EUR 1.3 million at their disposal from the Slovak government to develop their activities. The money will be used through the grant system of the Office for Slovaks Living Abroad.
In 2009 the scheme allocated EUR 1.9 million to this end, with projects including the reconstruction of old buildings acquired for a school with tuition in Slovak and a Slovak community centre in Uzhgorod (some 17,000 Slovaks estimated to live in Ukraine), or the reconstruction of a high school with dormitories in Bacsky Petrovec, Serbia (which is home to roughly 64,000 Slovaks).
In total there are an estimated two million Slovak ex-pats living abroad in about 50 different countries.
Representative offices and institutions of the Slovak Republic abroad organise cultural and social events aimed at presenting the country positively abroad. The Ministry of Education is also working on having Slovak qualifications recognised abroad more, having already signed bilateral agreements with Hungary, Poland and Romania.