"Every company, either domestic or foreign, expects some of the basic conditions to be met: predictability is first, stability is second and competitiveness of the business environment is third," Vojmir Urlep, the head of the Forum of Foreign Investors, said in a statement on Thursday.

Urlep, the chairman of Novartis-owned pharma company Lek, stressed that measures should be taken to improve the competitiveness of the tax environment and flexibility of the labour market and to simplify administrative procedures for various permits.

The Forum of Foreign Investors, which associates 30 foreign-owned companies in Slovenia, would like to improve the cooperation between educational institutions and the private sector, including by introducing practical training in companies and programmes that better address the needs of the sector.

The TNI Declaration will be presented in detail at a summit of foreign-owned companies on 13 April, when Prime Minister Miro Cerar will also give his opinion on the document.

The first summit of this kind in Slovenia will focus on a tax reform, with the forum proposing lower taxation of labour, higher incentives for employment of experts and changes to the income tax brackets.

Peter Jakšič of Johnson Controls Slovenj Gradec stressed that the forum and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry as its umbrella institution wanted to contribute with the proposed measures to further developing the business environment in Slovenia.

"While the proposed measures would reduce budget revenues by around EUR 320m, they would contribute an additional EUR 220m to the public purse. We believe that the difference of EUR 100m or 0.6% total public revenue would be offset in the medium and long run with better competitiveness of the economy," Jakšič added.

There are 9,470 companies in foreign ownership in Slovenia which employ a total of 93,000 people, which is a fifth of the total labour force in the country.

Foreign-owned companies annually generate EUR 5.8bn in added value (33% of total added value generated in the country) and EUR 926m in net profit (28% of total net profit).