Despite a drop after the EU-imposed sanctions against Russia, the country remains Slovenia's most important non-EU partner in exports. Efforts to further enhance cooperation will be high on the agenda as President Borut Pahor visits Moscow this week.

Slovenia exports to Russia significantly more than it imports from the country. In the first ten months of last year, the trade between the two countries amounted to EUR 777m, with Slovenian exports topping EUR 586m.

According to the online portal Izvozno okno, imports are dominated by energy (70%), while exports consist mainly of pharmaceuticals (34%), nuclear reactors, machines and mechanical devices (15%), and electric machines, equipment and spare parts (13%). Slovenia is also a popular destination among Russian tourists.

While the trade between the two countries has dropped significantly, Russia continues to be one of Slovenia's most important trade partners. In exports, it ranks seventh among all countries and first among non-EU countries.

Slovenia's first Ambassador to Russia Saša Geržina, the long-standing president of the Slovenia-Russia Association, told the STA that the trade had dropped because of "the devaluation of the ruble and subsequent fall in the purchasing power of Russians".

The bilateral trade peaked at EUR 1.47bn in 2013, but then dropped because of the sanctions and the fall in prices of energy. It has been rising again lately. The fall in Russians' purchasing power has hurt both Slovenian exporters and companies operating there.

Nevertheless, Slovenian companies persist on the market. Among the most successful are pharma companies Krka, which has a production facility in Russia, and Lek, household appliance maker Gorenje and telecommunications equipment provider Iskratel.

Efforts to strengthen economic cooperation will also be high on the agenda as President Pahor visits the country on Friday and Saturday. He will be accompanied by a strong business delegation. Contracts, possibly worth more than the entire trade in 2016, are to be signed. Touching on the strengthening of cooperation, Geržina pointed to construction as a possibly lucrative line of business.

Other than that, Slovenia is also a popular destination for Russian tourists, who stay in the country twice as long as other foreign visitors. The Slovenian Statistics Office's data shows, that 44,000 Russian guests arrived and made 225,000 overnight stays in 2015. On average, they spent 5.1 nights, mostly in hotels. They prefer to stay in spas and at the coast.

Geržina, moreover, believes that cooperation is good, as relations have been fairly unscathed in the relatively complicated international situation. Slovenia did not break any agreement with the EU or NATO and kept "agreeable dialogue and relations with Russia, which will be proven during Pahor's visit", he summed up.