President Türk on the promotion of foreign direct investment

Ljubljana, 21.9.2012  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Türk, attended the closing session of the FDI Summit Slovenia 2012, an international conference on foreign direct investment. In his address, he presented the major strategic guidelines that had influenced the development of the Slovenian economy in the past, and the systematic changes and policy measures that would help Slovenia attract more foreign investment.

President Türk recalled that in the 1950s and 1960s the prevailing principle in Slovenia's industrial development was import substitution. After gaining independence, Slovenia adopted the so-called gradual approach in restructuring its economic system. Later, it started to take on the common rules of the European Union, as the membership in this international community was its main strategic priority. In this process, Slovenia probably did not take sufficient advantage of the opportunities brought about by the changes in the global environment, the president admitted frankly.

According to President Türk, Slovenia should set up a stable normative and administrative system that is friendly to foreign investors in order to attract more foreign direct investment. Moreover, Slovenia should improve its ability to draft projects. Among the priority policy measures recommended at last year's FDI Summit Slovenia, the president mentioned the provision of short-term fiscal stability, pension reform and other measures aimed at the long-term stabilisation of public finance, state budget restructuring, the redefinition of the system of social transfers, the introduction of more flexible forms of employment according to the flexicurity principle, and the connection of competitive advantages within the Slovenian economy.

President Türk highlighted that currently almost 50 % of foreign direct investment in Slovenia is found in the financial service and the insurance sectors. He emphasised that a diversity of foreign investment and a better balance between individual industries were needed. Among the most promising, he mentioned those industries that are interconnected according to the principle of clustering. From this aspect, the most developed industry is the Slovenian automotive industry, while logistics, electronics and information technology also have great potential. President Türk believes that apart from interconnection based on the clustering principle, cooperation between the scientific sphere and industry is of utmost importance. He also explained that Slovenia has great talent which could be better exploited within an appropriate organisational framework.