SLOVENIA. Despite the size of the market (an area of 20,000 km2, 2 million people, per capita GDP of about 17,000 euros), Slovenia feeds an important trade exchange with Italy and is our main partner in the Balkans with a share of 42.1% in 2013. Italy is reconfirmed as the second largest trading partner with a trade worth 5.96 billion euro, of which Italian exports to Slovenia amounted to 3.47 billion euro and imports from Slovenia amounted to 2.49 billion euro. Italy is the third largest foreign investor in Slovenia (and the second among the EU countries), with a stock of FDI in 2013 of 818 million Euro concentrated in nearly 500 Slovenian companies. Direct investments are concentrated mainly in the Italian financial sector and in wholesale, excluding vehicles, the logistics. Among the products to market, we highlight: food, clothing, machinery and equipment, furniture, construction.
THE CZECH REPUBLIC. The balance of trade between Italy and the Czech Republic records since 2006 a growing surplus in favor of the Czech Republic. The exchange in recent years has increased exponentially until 2009 – the year of the international crisis – and then resumed the positive trend from the following year. Foreign trade between the Czech Republic and Italy is based on the exchange of machines and mechanical appliances, boilers, machinery and electrical appliances, cars, motorcycles, tractors and other vehicles, products of iron and steel. For foreign investments it undoubtedly offers interesting prospects. The low cost of labor, with a certain specialization in some areas, the basically good infrastructure, the need to attract foreign capital that contributes to the restructuring of the production system, create a definitely favorable climate. A good network of transports and infrastructure facilitates the trade exchange with the markets of neighboring countries, making the Czech Republic an ideal hub for the production or storage of cargo for this area. The Czech government has been pursuing for years an industrial policy and fiscal environment favorable to foreign companies, including through the creation of exclusive economic zones with a simplified tax system and a competitive energy cost.
EsayBalkans Team