By IANS,
Bangalore : Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor Wednesday urged Indian companies and entrepreneurs to explore investment opportunities in his central European country.
“Though we are on the safe side of the 17-member Eurozone, we are too small a country (population 2.5 million) to finance our developmental activities. We desperately need foreign investment from countries like India,” Pahor said at an interactive session here.
Seeking investments in diverse sectors, Pahor said he was on his maiden visit to India after his country attained sovereignty two decades ago to boost bilateral trade.
“We look forward to Indian firms and entrepreneurs taking interest in investing in Slovenia, especially in technology, banking and tourism,” Pahor said, addressing captains of the industry at “Slovenia-India: Coming Together” session, organised by the Karnataka unit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Owing to its geo-strategic position at the cross-roads of transport routes, Slovenia has well-developed ICT and physical infrastructure, technological networks and platforms, centers of excellence and clusters.
Leading a high-profile business delegation to this tech hub after visiting Mumbai and New Delhi on his five-day visit, Pahor said he had pledged to double bilateral trade during his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The two countries signed three agreements in New Delhi Tuesday, including one on cooperation in education and research.
Karnataka’s Industries Minister Murugesh R. Nirani invited Slovenian businesses to invest in the southern state and assured them all support for their ventures.