President of the Republic of Slovenia attends the Convention of the Automotive Cluster of Slovenia

Ljubljana, 19.9.2012  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Türk, attended the 7th Convention of the Automotive Cluster of Slovenia (ACS). In his opening address, he highlighted that Slovenia, boasting a long industrial tradition, cannot have a good development model without a solid industrial core. However, the question of how to integrate a solid industrial core into development is extremely demanding at a time when services represent an ever-increasing part of the economy, and when development is based on small and medium-sized enterprises.

President Türk recalled that several years ago a thesis was developed in public debates, stating that the basic organisational principle in our development should be that of so-called 'clustering'. Among the areas that should have been developed according to this principle were the automotive industry, the wood-processing industry, tool-making, logistics and some other areas. Unfortunately, clustering (which is still the only convincing organisational principle for the management of our industrial development, according to President Türk) has only been introduced in the automotive industry.

The president emphasised that currently the automotive cluster is the most successful sector of Slovenia's industry. It amounts to 10 % of GDP and generates more than EUR 3 billion of annual revenues; it includes 63 enterprises successfully cooperating with each other and with other partners on the global market. He expressed his wish that other areas in Slovenia would also succeed in developing in a manner reflecting to the greatest extent possible the experience from Slovenia's automotive industry.

The automotive industry's development in the 20th century was of key importance for the industrial development in Europe and other parts of the world. President Türk said that this trend will most probably continue in the future; however, he emphasised that development trends need to be taken into consideration today, especially development towards energy-efficient and environmentally-sound technologies. Only in this way can the automotive industry keep its important role as the engine of industrial and broader economic growth.

This year's United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) revealed that the future regulatory framework in the area of environmental protection will be developed under the strong influence of the business sector and non-governmental organisations. According to President Türk, this requires initiative, imagination and good cooperation between scientific-research centres and the industry, so as to direct Slovenia's future development in the best manner possible.