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Leading the way in promoting and analysing foreign investment in Slovenia

The "FDI Summit - a Conference on Foreign Investment in Slovenia" has, over the past two years, grown into the largest international professional event in Slovenia addressing foreign investment, foreign investment trends in changing economic conditions and their importance in the formulation of economic strategies, especially Slovenia's new development strategy. The conference, in contrast to some other similar projects, effectively links potential investors, state sector entities, ministries, state enterprises, professional and educational institutions, domestic and foreign-owned private companies, international corporations and financial institutions. The outcome of the two previous conferences, held in 2010 and 2011, were two publications - the Conclusion Paper, which provided practical advice on economic policy guidelines, which have proven very accurate, although Slovenian politicians has been unable to translate them into practice, a common factor of numerous strategies in recent years.

FDI's as an important ingredient in the recipe for overcoming the crisis

Given the economic crisis that has, in recent years, clearly revealed the weaknesses in the national development policies and the instability of the global economic order, small and open countries such as Slovenia, which lack their own development capital, are getting more intensively engaged in the provision of adequate resources for urgent investment in the private and public sectors. Foreign capital is certainly one of the major resources, within the framework of a comprehensive and balanced development strategy that will define real, rather than virtual, strategic national interest.

FDI Summit 2012 - From Rhetoric to Implementation

This year's conference will focus on defining and presenting actual projects that are feasible, within the next few years, in both the public and private sectors. While the objectives are similar to last year, they could not be achieved to a satisfactory degree due to the economic crisis and a complete standstill in the implementation of strategic development projects at the national level. Also, due to the previous government's passive asset management policy (the absence of a strategy for the state assets and the subsequent blocking of all projects involving the strategic integration of individual companies) and its stakes in state or quasi-state enterprises, it is difficult to identify the development projects of individual companies in terms of their internationalisation and search for strategic partners.
An important aspect of the conference will be the presentation of Slovenia's new strategy for the promotion of foreign investment and the creation of conditions for investment and its capital investment management strategy in terms of the state's withdrawal from the non-strategic sectors of the economy. Slovenia's passive development policy in recent years has brought the Slovenian economy into a situation where it can simply no longer put off the implementation of necessary strategic economic projects on the one hand and the restructuring and recapitalising of the basic segments of the economy on the other.
Conclusions from the last conference should be put into practice not just into the election program of the political parties!

Conclusions - guidelines for policy makers - from the FDI Summit 2011 - Extract from the conference Conclusion paper
1. immediate short-term stabilisation of public finances with a temporary freeze on public sector wages, pensions and social transfers.
2. immediate implementation of (already prepared) steps to ensure the long-term stabilisation of public finances which entails neutralising the adverse effects of the ageing population (pension and health reform).
3. restructuring of the state budget aimed at increasing the percentage of expenses with a high multiplier effect on the economy (investment in R&D), redefining social transfers aimed toward preventing poverty in the most socially vulnerable segments of the population with a simultaneous increase in efficiency - the goals of which must not cause anomalies in the labour market.
4. increase in labour market flexibility while ensuring social security in cases of loss of employment (flexicurity).
5. integration of Slovenia's competitive advantages (its strategic geographical location and natural resources - the environment, a relatively well-educated workforce, a high standard of living) with operational development strategies (realisation of logistic and development projects, formulation of an effective and sustainable energy strategy, utilisation of the comparative advantages in the tourism and agricultural sectors, utilisation of natural resources, etc.).