According to JAPTI, which organised Slovenia's presentation at the fair in cooperation with the Automotive Cluster of Slovenia (ACS), only few Slovenian companies cooperated with Russia in automotive industry in the past, as the country's car makers manufactured everything by themselves.

This has however changed over the past few years, as the Russian automotive industry opened to foreign markets.

Dušan Bušen of the ACS said that cooperation with Russia was very important for the Slovenian automotive industry, as the market had a lot of potential due to the countries' similar cultural and value frameworks.

Partnership ties are key to entering the Russian market, the target of all global players in the industry, Bušen added.

The ACS has launched a project dubbed UNIDO in Russia to ensure long-term presence of the Slovenian automotive industry on the market. The cluster supports Slovenian systemic suppliers as well as SMEs and helps them to enter the market.

In 2009, 10 Slovenian companies generated EUR 24m of trade within UNIDO, while 21 companies generated EUR 70m in exports last year and an additional EUR 40m in consolidated balance sheets in mixed companies, Bušen added.

According to JAPTI, 852 exhibitors from 33 countries and over 22,000 visitors were present at the fair last year.