"I believe this is a great achievement not only for Koper and the Primorsko, but for Slovenia as well," said Erjavec, who expressed satisfaction that the project had borne fruit despite some birthing problems.

He expressed confidence that exchanges of professors and students will give a further boost to business ties between Slovenia and Russia, an important business partner.

Similarly, Economy Ministry State Secretary Aleš Cantarutti said that the cooperation between the universities will contribute to the added value of economic ties between the countries.

Chancellor Marušič said that the new institution would bring great progress not only to Koper but to the entire country.

"It is time that Europe connects into a whole of cooperating parts," he added.

The Koper branch is the result of three years of close ties between the Primorsko Faculty of Management and the Moscow School of Economics.

For now the cooperation between Lomonosov and the Primorsko University is limited to the studies of economics and finance, but Marušič counts on it expanding into other fields such as Russian, mathematics and IT.

Praising the achievement of the two universities, Lomonosov University Chancellor Victor Antonovich Sadovnichy also pointed to the historical, cultural and spiritual closeness of the Slovenian and Russian nations.