Welcome Address by Mr Andrej Vizjak, Minister of the Economy of ...

last report on the progress made that would, hopefully, enable their accession to theEU on 1 January 2007.The region of South-Eastern Europe has always been of vital importance for Slovenia.Though the Slovenian foreign trade is outstandingly oriented to the EU market, theBalkan countries (Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia andMontenegro) are the second most important region with regard to the volume of theforeign trade, thus representing 17% of our total exports and 6.5% of our imports.More than a half of the “real” exports (outside of the EU) is directed to this region.Slovenia was a CEFTA Party from 1996 till the accession to the EU. CEFTA was avery good and useful experience. As a result of CEFTA, mutual trade had increasedsubstantially. We believe that such an agreement will have positive consequences forall also in the future. Implementation of the bilateral agreements would not besatisfactory. That is why Slovenia supports the idea of a single free trade agreementfor the South Eastern European region. The idea has also been supported by all regioncountries and confirmed by the declaration on 6 April 2006 at the meeting of the PrimeMinisters in Bucharest. The Prime Ministers of the South-Eastern European countrieswere of the opinion that CEFTA had over the past thirteen (13) years contributed a lotto preparing its Parties to eventual accession to the EU. I can share their view withouthesitation.Slovenia is very much in favour of such an agreement believing it will offer a betterbasis for the investments increase. Slovenia is already now one of the biggest investorsin the region. The value of FDI of the Slovenian companies in the countries of WesternBalkans amounted to 1,3 billion EUR (in 2004), thus representing 57% of allSlovenian FDI-s. The most attractive destination of the Slovenian investments remainsCroatia.To negotiate and conclude a new single free trade agreement that will include alsoprovisions on modern trade policy issues, such as competition rules and state aid,government procurement and protection of intellectual property, trade in services,procedures for dispute settlement, is an ambitious programme. Achieving a free tradearea is in fact a complex task. It requires appropriate political commitment toimplement the rules of the game. Pursuing liberalisation of services in the near futurewill be an additional boost to market access and a contribution to increasing trade andinvestment.Let me conclude by congratulating your governments, your administrations and theinternational community for making this endeavour a success. I hope this meeting willcontribute to the progress of the process.Thank you for your attention.2