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This special event is designed to be a promotional tool for enhancing economic and technological cooperation and ties between Slovenian and Israeli companies engaged in the information and communications technology sector that will arch over the traditional and well-established trade links of the electrical, chemical and paper industries. The ICT sector is the newest and one of the fastest growing business sectors in Slovenia, which, between 2002 and 2004, produced a compound annual profit growth rate of 60%, while the economy as a whole grew 17%. The value add per employee in 2004 was close to EUR 80,000, which is more than twice the average of the other industry sectors. As Israel is known as one of the leaders in the ICT sector willing to share its experience and knowledge with others, this industry has the potential to become the leading sector in Slovenian-Israeli business relations. Slovenia is an interesting and important market for Israel for several reasons: its geographic position in Europe and the Balkans, its economic and political stability, its strong links with the countries of the former Yugoslavia and the EU member states and, most importantly, its extensive technical knowledge and knowledge of foreign languages. These elements form a solid basis for developing and expanding business ties. Israel, on the other hand, is an interesting market for Slovenian companies as it is well disposed towards us, both politically and economically. It is a market with a population of over six million people and very strong ties with the larger Jewish community throughout the world. There are many companies and even more very active individuals in Israel, who have important international connections. How to improve bilateral trade Israel ranks 47th on Slovenia's export list (0.1% of all exports) and 27th on the import list (0.4% of all imports). Our main exports were paper and cardboard, electric meters and pneumatic tyres, while our main imports are mineral fuels, mineral oils and cyclic hydrocarbons disphosphorus pentaoxide. The top three Slovenian exporters to Israel were Iskraemeco d.d. (Kranj), Sava Tires d.o.o. (Kranj) and Gorenje d.d. (Velenje). The top three Slovenian importers from Israel were Petrol d.d. (Ljubljana), OMV Adriatik d.o.o. (Koper) and Krka d.d. (Novo mesto).