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OPENING ADDRESS BY THE ECONOMY MINISTER,
ANDREJ VIZJAK, AT AN INVESTMENT CONFERENCE IN LONDON ON 4
OCTOBER 2007
A Dynamic Vision of the Country
Your Excellency the Ambassador, business officials,
members of the press, ladies and gentlemen!
I am deeply honoured to be able to address you at this event aimed at
presenting Slovenia as an outstanding foreign investment destination.
This conference is the biggest business event featuring Slovenia in
London to date. Its primary objective is to raise awareness about the
Republic of Slovenia and attracting new British investment.
The Slovenian economy is in good shape. Economic growth is above
the European average. In 2006 the economy expanded by 5.2%,
helping Slovenia to achieve a GDP per capita of EUR 20,500, which
is 84% of the EU average. The growth of GDP is continuing. In the
first half of the year 2007 the GDP growth was 6,5 %. At the
beginning of this year Slovenia also became the first – and so far the
only – EU newcomer from 2004 to adopt the euro as its national
currency. Apart from being a great testament to the achievements of
the Slovenian economy, the adoption of the euro has also greatly
simplified business and as a result helped Slovenian companies in
going global. In 2008 our country will become the first among the
newcomers from 2004 to hold the EU's six-month presidency.
So what does Slovenia have to offer foreign investors? The country
has a strategic geographic position with good transport connections to
central and southeast Europe. It boasts a well-educated and welltrained workforce with good command of foreign languages, as well
as a stable economic and political environment. Modern infrastructure
and a business environment that enables companies to run business
with high value added is another one of its features.
In addition, the Slovenian government has been undertaking reforms
in order to make the Slovenian economy even more competitive and
consequently more appealing to foreign investors. Here I would like to
make a special mention of the recent tax reform, which has lowered
taxes for companies. Foreign investors are also entitled to tax breaks
for investment in R&D and research as well as other incentives related
to the creation of new jobs. There is also direct financial incentives for
foreign investment - these have been in place since 2000 and with
them Slovenia has helped fund projects that have created 3,800 new
jobs. The Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for
Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investments recently published a Public
Call for Invitations for Incentives for FDI for 2007 and 2008, which is
currently open. For this year a total of EUR 5.6m in budget funds have
been earmarked for grants to investment projects; the number for next
year stands at EUR 2.2m.
It is a fact that foreign direct investment is one of the important
catalysts of economic growth and competitiveness, creating new jobs
and allowing for a transfer of new technology and know-how. No
smaller is its contribution to expanding and overhauling the structure
of the manufacturing sector and helping businesses to expand to new
markets. The Slovenian government is well aware of the importance
of foreign investment, which is why it is paying special attention to
promoting the country as an FDI destination. The Slovenian
government adopted in 2005 a five-year programme of promoting
foreign direct investment for whose main objectives are the creation of
new jobs - especially in the less developed regions - and the transfer
of know-how and technology in order to raise value added in the
Slovenian economy.
Efforts in this field have brought about results. FDI in Slovenia stood
at EUR 6.2bn at the end of 2005 and rose to EUR 6.8bn by the end of
2006. The average annual growth of FDI between 1995 and 2007 has
been 17.7%, which is by no means a modest number.
Investment opportunities are greatest in sectors with high value added.
The Resolution on National Development Projects for the Period
2007-2023 also contains several major national projects in total value
of 24 billion EUR and it is expected that 15 million will be the share
of private investors. Foreign investors have the possibility to get
involved, foremost through public-private partnership initiatives.
Slovenia has made it its goal to surpass the average EU GDP per
capita within 10 years, whilst increasing employment in line with the
goals of the Lisbon Strategy.
Let me briefly introduce you one of resolution projects. Economic
growth Center Phoenix is located on southeastern part of Slovenia,
Posavje region, on 10th pan European traffic corridor (highways,
railways), close to Shengen border with Croatia. The main
attractiveness of this project is the development of common civilmilitary airport, which will lower both the investment and maintaining
costs of the civil airport. The airport is the central point for future
development of the economy and tourism in the region.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Slovenia is by custom a very open economy, which is why it views
cooperation with the outside world as crucial. The economic
partnership between Slovenia and Great Britain has been growing
throughout - but there nevertheless exists extensive potential for
further advancement of business ties. Slovenia believes one of the
major opportunities is for British companies to make Slovenia their
springboard to markets of SE Europe.
Dear participants, I would like to take this opportunity to thank
International Financial Services, London and the Slovenian Embassy
in London for hosting this important and interesting event, and also to
thank you for attending. I hope that what you get to see and hear at
this conference will help you in choosing to invest in Slovenia. I
would like to see as many of you as possible become investors in the
Slovenian economy in the near future. I would like to bid you much
success in your future pursuits and thank you again for your kind
attention! Let me finish my presentation with a short clip of Phoenix
Economic Growth Centre we see in the future.