President Türk on opportunities for strengthening economic co-operation between Slovenia and Jordan

Amman, 16.5.2009  |  press release

On the second day of his visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended a Jordanian-Slovenian business forum, where he addressed businessmen from the two countries. In his address, he stressed that regular meetings between Slovenian and Jordanian businessmen showed that many business links had been established between the two countries. Slovenia and Jordan have been holding intensive talks on deepening economic co-operation since April 2008, when His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah visited Slovenia. Economic co-operation is important; all the more so at a time of the global financial and economic crisis, said Dr Türk.

This is an opportunity and a challenge for Slovenia since Slovenia trades mainly with partners in the European Union and the region of South-East Europe, said President Türk. We must understand other environments and explore other opportunities, and in so doing, we must think ambitiously, he stressed. In his view, Jordan is a natural partner for Slovenia since it not only has a strong business community and successful economic development, but is also in an important geographical and strategic position in the Arab region. Dr Türk assessed the reforms introduced by Jordan to encourage foreign investment and create new market opportunities as favourable. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is an important partner of the European Union in the Barcelona Process and within the European Neighbourhood Policy; the European Union has also concluded a bilateral Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement with Jordan.

President Türk also outlined the advantages of Slovenia, which has now been a Member State of the European Union for five years. He recalled that Slovenia was also a Mediterranean country with a successful sea port for the transit of goods. The Slovenian Port of Koper has an important strategic position as it lies at the crossroads of two strategic corridors connecting the Mediterranean with Western Europe on one side and Eastern Europe on the other, said Dr Türk. He highlighted the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, energy, mechanical engineering, information technology, logistics, civil engineering and tourism as some of the areas which offer opportunities for improving economic co-operation. He highlighted, in particular, the importance of tourism, an area which brings people closer together and enables them to get to know each other better, which also helps foster business communication. Slovenia also sees many opportunities for co-operation in the areas of financial services, retail trade and telecommunications, he said.

Dr Türk attended today's business forum because he fully supports efforts put into establishing business links between Slovenia and Jordan, and believes that all the existing opportunities for economic co-operation between the two countries must be fully explored and seized. He said that he would be pleased to meet the Prime Minister of Jordan, who will visit Slovenia in June this year as a guest of the Slovenian Prime Minister. The visit will provide a new opportunity to strengthen efforts that lead into establishing important, long-term and strong links between the business communities of the two countries. There is untapped potential, as well as the will and opportunities, and we must take advantage of them, he said.

On the margins of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, President Türk also met the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ®eljko Kom¹iæ. Their talks focused on opportunities for building on the existing economic co-operation between Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.