Slovenia invites Indian businessmen to invest

Chennai, Jun 25 (PTI) As part of boosting trade relations Slovenia invited Indian businessmen to look for areas that remains "untapped" as there has been an "imbalance" on the trade between the two countries, Slovenian Ambassador to India Darja Bavdaz Kuret said today. "We (Slovenia) are developing very fast after separated from Yugoslavia 23 years ago. At that time the per capita income (in Slovenia) was USD 8,000. After 23 years, today it stands at USD 29,000...," Kuret said at an interactive session organised by Ficci here. Noting that Slovenia has organised number of activites in India as well as in Slovenia encouraging trade relations, she said, "There has been imbalance (on trade relations) and this can be overcome with newer projects". According to her, goods worth of only Euro 100 million were exported to India from Slovenia despite having a connectivity for euro 500 million European market. She said a business delegation from India would be visiting her country from Ficci later this year. Some of the areas that were lacking Indian investments in Slovenia according to her, was energy, new technologies, innovation and machinery. "We are among the first 12 countries in the world among innovation in industrial products," she said, adding, with the joint venture with Indian companies that area may be tapped not only to serve local market but also to global market. "Of course we are lacking Indian investments in Slovenia. We have some joint ventures here even in Chennai. We need to encourage more such cooperation(with Indian companies)," she said. PTI