Twenty years ago, the mechanism of Slovak development cooperation as we know it today was established. Several foreign partners, such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), contributed significantly to its formation in the early years.

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic became the national coordinator of Slovak development cooperation. Slovakia joined the OECD in 2000, the European Union in 2004 and the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2013 and has been part of the donor community providing assistance to developing countries for 20 years.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of official development assistance, the SlovakAid Development Summit will take place on 8-10 November 2023 under the auspices of the President of the Slovak Republic. During the three days, we will commemorate the milestones and achievements of our development cooperation and discuss the importance of development cooperation for addressing the challenges of today's and tomorrow's world in the presence of the general and professional public as well as local and international development cooperation representatives.

During the first day of the event, the second edition of the Ambrela Development Forum will take place. The aim of the conference is to hold debate on current challenges in the humanitarian and development sector. Participation in the conference is also open to international partners.

On the second day, an event will be held at the premises of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic with the participation of representatives of the state administration, international organisations, foreign partners, the non-governmental sector, and the diplomatic corps. The conference will be an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of our development cooperation and at the same time to outline a vision of its future direction, including the perspectives of our domestic and foreign partners. Two panel discussions will be held during the day. The first one will focus on 20 years of SlovakAid and the perspective for the near future, the second one on the future and challenges of development assistance in a fast-changing world. During the evening programme, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs will award plaques to people who have made a significant contribution to building development cooperation of the Slovak Republic.

The Summit will be rounded off with a public event organised by the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation on 10 November at the Aupark shopping centre. The aim of this day is to communicate to the public the importance of help beyond the borders of the Slovak Republic, and the importance of development cooperation with our partners, including the achieved results.