OPPORTUNITIES FOR STRENGTHENING OUR ECONOMIC COOPERATION ABOUND
State visit to Hashemits Kingdom of Jordan

Aqaba (Jordan), 27 February 2002


Distinguished Minister of Tourism, Antiquities and Information, Dr Taleb Al Rifai, distinguished Chairman of the Federation of Jordanian Chambers of Commerce, Mr Haider Murad, President of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, Mr Akel Beltaji, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed an honour to appear here before you and to speak to you about my country, the Republic of Slovenia. It became a sovereign independent state ten years ago, for the first time in the long and troubled history of the Slovene nation. Nothing was granted to the Slovenian nation, none of its achievements went at the expense of others. We never denied the rights of others, neither in the former Yugoslavia, nor elsewhere. But we knew what we wanted. We worked hard and fought to achieve it. What tasks lay ahead? We had to build up our own state with all its institutions. We were driven into war, we had to do away with its consequences, we negotiated for peace, we had to achieve international recognition, replace the loss of the Yugoslav market, we had to stabilise our economy, develop a free market system, modernise our economy's structure, introduce private property, come up with a model of a welfare market sate, introduce our own national currency and preserve its stability.

Today Slovenia is a stable and democratic country. It is a frontrunner for accession to the European Union and NATO. We expect to conclude our negotiations with the EU before the end of 2002 and we expect to receive an invitation to join NATO this fall. Central-European Slovenia, a country that is familiar with the characteristics of the markets, with the mentalities and languages of South East European states, preserved these commercial and human ties even after the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Our country is now again successfully conquering the Yugoslav market, it is an exporter of stability to South East Europe and it serves as a gateway to the region. Slovenia plays an active role in the Balkan peace process; it participates in the economic rebuilding and gradual integration of the Balkans into the EU. Slovenia is one of the largest investors and donors within the Stability Pact for South East Europe. Our country put forward the initiative to establish a regional fund for South East Europe and founded the Regional Finance Development Centre last year.

Foreign investors enjoy national treatment in Slovenia, they have the possibility of profit transfers and Slovenian corporate tax on profits is among the lowest in Europe. Slovenia enjoys an A credit rating and is a safe country for foreign investment. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia is conducting a special programme for the promotion of foreign investment in Slovenia. Slovenian investments in transition economies and in the former Yugoslavia are on the increase. Slovene enterprises would prove to be good business partners for Jordanian companies interested in production and distribution in Eastern and South East Europe.

The real sector in Slovenia is practically fully privatised. We are now in the process of privatising our banks, insurance companies and telecommunications. The average rate of growth for the past five years was 4.4 per cent in Slovenia. Along with Poland and Hungary, Slovenia is a leader in economic growth among Europe's 27 transition economies. Euromoney, which assesses country risks for 185 countries around the world, ranks Slovenia as 33rd. Slovenia is successfully reducing the gap between its per capita GDP in terms of purchasing power parity and the EU average, currently achieving 73% of that average. It already surpassed Greece in 1997 and has come very close to Portugal.

According to the human development indicators of UN Human Development reports, Slovenia is ranked 28th among 175 countries; 30% of its population use the Internet, 70% of all university students own their own computers, there are 1.6 million mobile phones for a population of 2 million. These are just a few major figures. The President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Cuk, will certainly present more.

Let me just add that Slovenia, too, has its own international corporations, even its first global corporations. Enterprises combining foreign and domestic capital are among the best in Slovenia. Slovenian companies are purchasing and building production facilities abroad, and in some countries they have relatively high shares of the market in pharmaceuticals, home appliances, etc. In many cases entrepreneurial innovativeness has allowed economic cooperation to evolve into political cooperation between countries. Unfortunately, economic cooperation with the esteemed Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is lagging far behind our well-developed political relations, an issue which I also discussed with His Majesty the King. Jordan only comes in fourth place in terms of Slovenian exports to the Middle East and ranks sixth in terms of imports from the region. Slovenian companies also use Jordan as its export base to Iraq, mainly through the UN Oil for Food programme or through Jordanian middlemen. Once the Republic of Slovenia joins the European Union it will also take on all the economic agreements between Jordan and the EU (the Cooperation Agreement, as well as the Euro-Mediterranean agreement, once it enters into force).

Opportunities for strengthening our economic cooperation abound. Slovenia represents a good opportunity for Jordanian companies to penetrate the markets of South East Europe, while Jordan's membership in the regional associations here offers opportunities to Slovenian companies in penetrating other Arab as well as North African markets. The Slovenian Port of Koper offers many advantages for the transit of Jordanian goods, there are many possibilities for cooperation between our Port of Koper and your port of Aqaba, which, since 2001, has the status of Special Economic Zone. It is for this reason that I am particularly glad about the proposal for cooperation between the cities of Aqaba and Koper, which the Commisioner of the Special Economic Zone Mr Akel Beltaji just spoke of. Greater attention should also focus on the development of higher forms of cooperation, such as the transfer of know-how and technology, joint production, joint placements in third markets, etc. The opportunities are there, we just need to seize them. I should also like to take this opportunity to express particular thanks to Mr Haider Murad, the pioneer of economic cooperation between Slovenia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

That Slovenia is not just a successful country with innovative companies but also a beautiful and attractive tourist destination is something that – I hope – the short video presentation on Slovenia will convince you of. The Jordanian Minister of Tourism and his Slovenian counterpart signed an agreement on cooperation in tourism already at the end of 2000.

In conclusion I would like to express my thanks to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority for organising this meeting today and for their generous hospitality, hoping that Jordanian and Slovene companies will find their common path of cooperation in this global world at the onset of the third millennium.