Trade group aims to correct balance

A trade delegation from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia is in the Republic this week to try to redress the imbalance in trade between the two states. It also aims to forge strategic links with Irish companies and to encourage tourism to Slovenia.

Slovenia's main exports are glassware, agricultural produce, wine, furniture and white goods. The main export to Ireland is glassware, some of it handcrafted but the bulk supplied to Waterford Crystal.

"It's a shame there's so little trade between us - just $47 million (€49 million). We're capable of doing much more," Ms Marta Kos, vice-president of the chamber said in Dublin yesterday, before leaving for a promotion in Cork today. "The actual problem in Slovenia is that we import much more than we export," she said.

"We've come to Ireland because we're in the process of entering the EU. We know that Ireland has managed entry very well and we're sure we could get some experience from you. Another reason is we see ourselves as a bridge between western and eastern Europe," said Ms Kos.

"Glassware accounts for 15 per cent of Slovenian exports to Ireland," she explained. "The industry is not so big, but we're very strong in the US market and in central and eastern Europe. Our wine is of an especially high quality in the middle and upper price ranges and we would like to find a distributor here. On our supermarket shelves, that would be about £6 to £9 a bottle. Our wood furniture is very high quality. It's well known in Great Britain. "Our largest import from Ireland is data processing machines. We're quite strong in that area as well and we're trying to build partnerships in that area."

She was accompanied by the Slovenian president's economic adviser, Ms Olga Jakhel Dergan, and the Slovenian ambassador to Britain and Ireland, Mr Marjan Setinc.

Ms Dergan explained that Slovenia "is non-problematic". But she said the new republic, which has a population of under two million, lost 40 to 50 per cent of its markets in the former Yugoslavia after independence. However, the economy has recovered well.