SARIO výročná správa 2009 SARIO Annual Report 2009

Investment support in Slovakia
The global financial and economic crisis affected Slovakia’s positive economic
growth in Slovakia when the country began to feel the secondary effects at the
end of 2009. It particularly affected direct foreign investment, which has played
a very important role in the economic growth of Slovakia in recent years. As a
result of the liquidity crisis and a drop in demand for certain products, especially
from the automotive and electronics sectors, some foreign investors in Slovakia
experienced economic difficulties and faced the problem of how to survive. These
consequences affected industrial production, where foreign investors were forced
to limit production because of marketing difficulties in foreign markets, with
negative consequences for employment. In these changing economic conditions,
SARIO’s anti-crisis policy helped maintain many of those foreign investments,
which significantly contributed to the development of the Slovak economy.
The foreign direct investment section (hereinafter “FDI section”) provided existing
and new foreign investors with services and technical information in the area of
investments. The FDI section consisted of the following departments: Department
of International Relations and Generation of Investment Projects (DIRGIP), the
Department of Management of Investment Projects and Aftercare (DMIPAC) and
the Department of Real Estate and Regional Offices (DRERO). These departments
worked closely together to provide the required services to investors. At the same
time they cooperated with the Department of Strategy (DS) and Department of
Marketing Communication (DMC) to present Slovakia as a suitable destination for
new investments, both in the domestic and foreign fields. The FDI section provided
comprehensive services to investors, ensured communication between investors
and local and state administration, monitored and recommended suitable
locations and real estate in Slovakia for the implementation of investment
projects, provided consultations related to the possibility of obtaining state
aid and processed expert opinions to applications for state aid. It also actively
negotiated with investors on terms of investment contracts, identified major
investors for the purposes of obtaining permits for temporary or permanent
residence in Slovakia, coordinated publishing activities, disseminated and updated
relevant materials and information on investment opportunities in Slovakia,
organised meetings, seminars and promotional activities to potential investors
and participated in regional development.
Registration of new projects and processing demands
In 2009, the FDI section processed qualified responses to 598 queries from
potential foreign investors, OBEO, SARIO Cooperation partners and other
entities in Slovakia and abroad by telephone, e-mail and fax, and generated 110
new registered investment projects, six of which were transferred to the Section
of Foreign Trade as they were joint-venture projects or acquisitions of Slovak
companies.
Overall, the FDI section registered 104 investment projects in 2009, totalling
2429.37 million EUR, which could create 16,059 new jobs.
A new initiative within the FDI section was the acquisition of foreign direct
investment in tourism in Slovakia, which the FDI section considers one of its
priorities.
The FDI section provides interested parties in Slovakia with the possibility to
cooperate in the creation of a database of investment opportunities in tourism in
Slovakia, which aims to monitor and register entities that are suitable for creating
an offer to investors for their investment intentions.
Staff of the FDI section actively sought investment opportunities in science and
research and addressed approximately 260 established investors, as well as
selected German, American, Japanese and Chinese potential investors. The FDI
section staff presented information on a suitable investment climate and state
support in the form of incentives for science and research that would be available
if the investors decided to invest in Slovakia.
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