Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Marjan Sarec held talks in Moscow, Russian government’s website reported.
“Slovenia is a close partner for Russia in the European Union,” Medvedev said at the meeting.
“It is important that Slovenia and the Russian Federation maintain economic cooperation. The Russian Federation is an important partner and a reliable partner in natural gas deliveries. And, of course, the Russian Federation and the territory of Russia are very important for Slovenian exports,” Sarec noted.
Following their talks, the two Prime Ministers held a news conference. According to the Russian Prime Minister, “Russia and Slovenia are motivated to promote cooperation and economic ties and are making headway. Last year, bilateral trade grew after a decline due to related negative processes; it increased by 9% and has now reached $1.3 bln. There is certainly potential to bring it up to $2 bln. As for investments, of course, we would like investment to be as large as possible. We support Slovenian companies including those that have established local production of medications, paint and coatings and telecommunications equipment. Russian companies (Industrial Metallurgical Holding and Sberbank) have also made serious investments. We will closely monitor this investment and seek opportunities to take part in bigger projects, including Slovenia’s infrastructure, all the more so since our business communities maintain very good and close contact.” In his view, “There are traditional sectors for cooperation, including energy, the supply of certain raw materials from Russia, and imports of consumer goods and pharmaceuticals from Slovenia, but we need to expand our trade.”
The Prime Minister of Slovenia pointed out that “Russia ranks 10th in the number of tourist visits to our country. Russia is our 9th largest partner in terms of exports from our country. And, of course, it is a very important partner given the large number of investments Slovenian enterprises have made in Russia. The statistics show that the volume of trade increased 36% during the first half of this year. I hope that this cooperation will expand.”