OPENING A UNITED STATES CONSULATE IN BRATISLAVA.

SEC. 124. OPENING A UNITED STATES CONSULATE IN BRATISLAVA. (a) Findings.— The Congress finds that— (1) the State Department’s “special consulate” concept offers a model for reopening a consulate in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, at modest cost and with significant public diplomacy and political benefits; (2) the United States still owns the old consulate building and in 1987–1988 spent about $500,000 to renovate parts of the building; (3) the building has been productively used for trade and cultural events, but could be more effectively used by restoring it to its original purpose as the locus of official United States representation in the Slovak capital; (4) Slovakia has been the source of the largest and most recent wave of Czechoslovak emigration to the United States and approximately three and one-half million Americans are of Slovak heritage; (5) American tourists in Slovakia, many visiting relatives, often require consular assistance and this consular support could best be provided by a consulate in Bratislava; (6) Slovaks account for more than half of all Czechoslovak tourist travel to the United States and this travel, which should be encouraged, could be expedited by a United States consulate in Bratislava; (7) the Slovak underground Catholic Church is one of the most vibrant religious forces in Czechoslovakia and each year tens of thousands of Catholics make pilgrimages to Slovakia; (8) American outreach efforts in Slovakia have been hindered by the absence of a constant and direct American presence in Bratislava; and (9) with its Hungarian, Polish, and Ukrainian minorities, a United States consulate in Bratislava would provide important information on both regional and local developments. (b) Sense of the Congress.— It is the sense of the Congress that the President should take all practicable steps to reopen the United States consulate in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.