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Until 2004 there was no organized promotion of the Pomurje region to potential foreign investors. However, in the last two years things have changed. In 2004 Pomurje invested 40,000 Euros to promote foreign direct investment (FDI). The Regional Development Agency Mura (RDA Mura) is one of the most important players in this field. The development of entrepreneurship in Pomurje is also connected with FDI. More FDI means more business for local companies and entrepreneurs. FDI is not new to the region of Pomurje. There are more than 120 companies with foreign or mixed ownership; these companies have more than 1,700 employees and take in 200 million Euros of revenue per year. An increase in FDI together with the development of entrepreneurship and local businesses is surely one of the best routes for development in Pomurje. Because of the recent successes in attracting FDI to Pomurje the representatives of RDA Mura decided to apply to an international competition to select the European "regions of the future" for 2006-2007. There were 89 candidate regions from all over Europe. The organiser of the competition was FDI Magazine, which is owned by the Financial Times Group of London. FDI Magazine specializes in foreign direct investment and is sold in Europe, the USA and Asia. The next step - Europe In the first phase of the competition Pomurje was chosen as the best region for FDI in the area of Southeast Central Europe. In the Southeast Central Europe region, Pomurje had the best results for human resources, IT and telecommunications, quality of life, strategy of promotion of FDI and cost efficiency. As the winner of the Southeast Central Europe region, Pomurje advanced to the second phase of the competition - the selection of the best region in all of Southern Europe. The other competitors were Central Macedonia from Greece, Kocaelli from Turkey and the Canary Islands of Spain. Pomurje was a close runner up at the end - behind Central Macedonia, which means that Pomurje is one of the 10 most attractive European regions for FDI. The first phase winners were published in FDI Magazine (February-March 2006 issue). The award with the title "Pomurje - European Region of the Future 2006-2007" was given to Mr. Anton Stihec, president of the council of the Regional Development Agency Mura at a special event in Cannes, France on March 16th, 2006.