Slovenia's exports to Germany have been growing by 5-6% a year, reaching EUR 6.3 billion last year, a record-high, but there are still many opportunities for Slovenian companies in the German market, stressed the chamber's head Gertrud Rantzen.

She highlighted the automotive industry among the industries with the most potential, although many Slovenian companies are important suppliers to the German industry as it is.

The logistics sector is recording strong growth, environmental technologies are becoming increasingly important and demographic trends indicate that in the future demand will rise for healthcare services, supported by the pharmaceutical industry and medical equipment, she said.

Germany is Europe's biggest market for information technologies, communication and security technologies, she added.

Jernej Tovšak of the Slovenian Economy Ministry said companies must be bold and well prepared to succeed in a foreign market. The state offers them support, from advice to trips and joint fair presentations to financial support for digitalisation, reorganisation, protection of intellectual property and for foreign market research.

Bernhard Hauer of the German Embassy in Ljubljana pointed to the latest economic forecasts, which are not so good. "The expectations for 2019 and 2020 are cautious at best," he said. He also warned of the risks associated with any radical changes in the global trading regimes.

He believes both Slovenia and Germany need structural changes to be able to cope with that. For Slovenia he proposes changes to the labour market, taxation, red tape and staff training.

Damjan Širca of the company Epilog, developing software for internal logistics, presented the traits of German business partners, saying that they appreciate obeying of rules, product quality and the relation between value and price.

German partners are perfectionists, they check whether agreements are being implemented. They are formal in business relations but they appreciate determination in negotiations, he said.