Slovakia
The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic went their separate ways after 1 January 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce. Slovakia has remained a close partner with the Czech Republic. Both countries co-operate with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrád Group. Slovakia became a member of NATO on 29 March 2004 and of the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2009, Slovakia adopted the Euro as its national currency.
Stredné Slovensko
Central Slovakia is one of the four NUTS-2 Regions of Slovakia. It was created at the same time as were the Žilina and the Banská Bystrica  regions. Central Slovakia is the largest of the four regions of Slovakia and its GDP per capita is 58,8% of the European Union average (€13,600 per year).