Erdogan will be accompanied by a delegation of ministers to discuss with the Slovenian government the implementation of a strategic partnership that was signed in 2011 when then Prime Minister Borut Pahor paid a visit to Turkey. After their tete-a-tete Janša and Erdogan will be joined by their delegations.

Later in the day, Erdogan will meet Türk and Virant, and the Ljubljana-based International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) will proclaim him its "person of the decade".

The visit will focus on determining opportunities for cooperation, especially in terms of trade, which had been consistently growing before the crisis. Last year, trade between Slovenia and Turkey reached nearly EUR 400m. Slovenia exports to Turkey above all pumps and compressors, coatings, paper and cars, while import mostly consists of cars, drugs, car tires and public transport vehicles. Investments reach around EUR 10m a year in each direction; however, Turkey has been showing increasing interest in investing in Slovenia.

In September, Turkish company Miador took over chipboard maker Lesna TIP and it intends to invest an additional EUR 4m in production in the future.

The countries have great expectations for cooperation in the car industry.The Slovenian car industry cluster ACS and the Turkish association of car parts suppliers Taysad organised a meeting in Istanbul in March featuring over 50 companies and institutions from Turkey and central Europe.