NEWS

Prime Minister Pahor pays state visit to India

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, is on a state visit to India at the invitation of the President of the Republic of India, Dr Manmohan Singh; Prime Minister Pahor is accompanied by a business delegation. The first day of the visit started with the Prime Minister's meeting with Indian business executives in Mumbai to discuss the strengthening of economic cooperation and the opportunities for its further enhancement. Prime Minister Pahor presented the Slovenian investment environment to Indian businessmen, who were most interested in investments regarding Slovenian tourism, energy, transport and logistics. At the aforementioned meeting in India, a country with which Slovenia has traditionally maintained good relations, Prime Minister Pahor talked mainly about the flexibility of the Slovenian economy, which is export-oriented in nature.

  

Prime Minister Pahor, accompanied by the business delegation and Ministers Radič, Marušič and Vlačič, State Secretary Györkös, and the MP and Chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with India, Jerovšek, continued his visit by attending the Slovenian-Indian Business Conference on bilateral economic relations; a Memorandum of Understanding between the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investments and the Small and Medium Business Development Chamber of India was also signed. In his opening address, Prime Minister Pahor said that today's generation is privileged to live and work in the age of globalisation, a time when even distant countries can establish strong economic relations. The Prime Minister touched on the opportunities Slovenia offers to foreign investors and praised its natural wonders, citing a former US President who called Slovenia a 'big slice of heaven'. Prime Minister Pahor also invited Indian businessmen to cooperate with their Slovenian counterparts.

 

(Photo: Daniel Novakovič/SPA)

 

Prime Minister Pahor also met the Governor of Maharashtra in Mumbai; their discussion focused on areas of common political and economic interest to both countries, despite their diversity. After the meeting, the delegation will travel to New Delhi, where Prime Minister Pahor will attend the evening official opening ceremony of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia to the Republic of India.

   

This is the first official visit made by the Republic of Slovenia to India. The main intention of the visit is to strengthen political dialogue between the two countries and further promote bilateral economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation. The topics under discussion will focus on the aforementioned areas, EU-Indian relations, and regional issues.