Ljubljana - Slovenia presented its achievements in space technologies at an event on Tuesday which kicked off a series of virtual events that will prelude Expo 2020, hosted by Dubai between October 2021 and March 2022. Slovenia focused on space investments promoting sustainable economic growth and creating value added in society.

Slovenia was one of the 14 countries picked by the Expo organisers to present its efforts and key feats in space technologies development to other Expo 2020 participants, the investment agency Spirit Slovenija said on Tuesday.

The agency pointed out that Slovenia's angle on investments in space technologies supporting sustainable economic growth and value added had been well received by other participants.

Expo 2020, which has been postponed by a year due to Covid-19, will be preluded by the so-called pre-Expo programme, which aims to introduce next year's main topics and serves as an opportunity for countries to showcase its efforts and to network.

Space was the first topic to be addressed, and it will be followed by climate and biodiversity. The first event provided a global insight into latest innovations in space explorations, said Spirit Slovenija.

Slovenia's presentation featured the country's companies and institutions, including Sinergise, Skylabs, Dewesoft, Balmar, the Centre of Excellence for Space Sciences and Technologies (SPACE-SI), Cosylab, Duol and Geocodis.

Apart from specific cases, the country also presented future projects and the multiplicative effect of space investments.

Slovenia was one of the few countries which had 30 minutes for their presentations - apart from Slovenia, this was granted only to the US, Russia and Switzerland, said the agency.

Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek has highlighted that Slovenia's space sector is recording extreme growth and is competitive enough in the global market. The country's efforts in this field are based on the niche strategy, he added.

Slovenia has been an associated member of the European Space Agency since July 2016. This year, it bagged another historic feat in its development of space technologies - on 3 September, the first Slovenian satellites, Trisat and Nemo HD, were deployed in space.

Počivalšek said at the time that "Slovenia has joined the group of countries with operative satellites in space, a top achievement that should make us extremely proud".