The Czech Republic is a Central European country, a member of the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OSCE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United Nations (and all of its main specialized agencies and boards). It entertains diplomatic relations with 191 countries in the world, around half of which maintain a resident embassy in the Czech capital city, Prague.
Until the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the foreign policy of Czechoslovakia had followed that of the Soviet Union. Since the revolution and the subsequent mutually-agreed peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Czechs have made integration with Western institutions their chief foreign policy objective. This goal was rapidly met with great success, as the nation joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, and held the Presidency of the European Union during the first half of 2009.
The Czech Republic participates in the United Nations (UN); World Trade Organization (WTO); International Monetary Fund (IMF); Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); International Energy Agency (IEA); North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the International Whaling Commission.