 On the first day of his working visit to Davos, Switzerland, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010. The five-day forum entitled "Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild" is being attended by more than 2,500 political and economic leaders from more than 90 countries.
According to President Türk, the World Economic Forum provides an important basis for discussing reforms of the global financial system and an opportunity to establish formal and informal relations. On the margins of the Forum, President Türk held a number of bilateral meetings. |
 On the first day of his visit, Dr Türk met the President of the Republic Azerbaijan, Dr Ilham Aliyev, to discuss the implementation of agreements concluded by the two countries during President Türk's last visit to Azerbaijan. President Türk underlined the interest of Slovenian business in fostering the development of economic co-operation between the two countries.
President Türk also met former US President Bill Clinton; their regular communication relates to various political and economic topics of importance for the future.
On the second day of his working visit, Dr Türk took part in a discussion on "Emerging Markets: Powering Growth in the Global Economy". In the President’s words, co-operation with new economies has become increasingly important for all developing countries, including Slovenia. President Türk underlined that the European Union should expect a long period of relatively low rates of economic growth and small market opportunities, and drew attention to the areas of the world with emerging economies that are extremely interesting and dynamic. Dr Türk stressed that these opportunities should not be missed and that the discussions held within the World Economic Forum were of practical importance for Slovenia.
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 President Türk also met the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who expressed his expectations concerning discussions on Iceland's application for EU membership. President Grímsson invited Dr Türk to pay an official visit to Iceland. |
 At the World Economic Forum itself, President Türk took part in an interactive session on "The New Growth Narrative" featuring panellists from different parts of the world. In his speech, Dr Türk spoke about the issue of slow economic growth across the whole Eurozone, which will most likely remain unchanged in the near future.
He presented the experience of Slovenia, which has been adversely affected by the global recession, given its highly export-oriented economy, and is now looking for new markets outside the EU. Dr Türk expressed his hope that the financial system of the euro would evolve so as to assist countries that are not in the centre of the Eurozone and are export-dependent. He strategically pointed to the question of whether countries that have higher surpluses would help those which could not have such high surpluses.
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 President Türk also stressed the urgent need to develop common EU policies in certain key areas of importance for the future of the EU. One such area is the issue of the ageing population of the EU; President Türk also referred to research and development. He spoke in favour of creating a single intellectual space within the European Union, which would increase the supply of researchers, and of larger investments in research.
According to the Dr Türk , the discussions at the World Economic Forum have clearly indicated that each region will overcome the crisis in a different fashion. The EU, and in particular the Eurozone, cannot rely on a rapid recovery from the crisis nor on high growth rates. Therefore, in the President’s words, new and different solutions must be sought and stronger relations with countries outside of Europe established. In this area, a great deal of work awaits us, stressed Dr Türk. |