The working visit from the Vice-President of the European Commission (EC), responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, Mr. Jyrki Katainen, was kicked off yesterday with a joint session of the EU Affairs and Economy Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. Mr. Kristjan Verbič, President of the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD), participated at the session as the only representative of the public. He has already met with Vice-President Katainen in Brussels, and he took this opportunity to share a few words with him. Mr. Katainen visited Slovenia as part of the European semester, the EU's annual cycle of budgetary, economic and reform processes coordination between the member states. In addition to the session at the National Assembly, the European semester will include talks with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, a working lunch with the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia and a reception with the President of the Republic of Slovenia.
During the session, members of the committees, Mr. Jožef Horvat (NSi), Mr. Franc Breznik (SDS), Mr. Marko Ferluga (SMC) and Mr. Kamal I. Shaker (SMC), addressed a number of relevant questions to the Vice-President, including those concerning the issues of the threatening trade war and sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation. The relevant questions from the viewpoint of the VZMD's efforts and its scope of operation were asked by Mr. Franc Trček (Levica), who addressed the issue of the so-called revolving-door policy or the interconnection between politics and capital at the EU level. He pointed out the lobbying activities of the ex-President of the European Commission, Mr. José Manuel Barroso, with whom Mr. Katainen has also met. With regard to the scandalous (pre)rehabilitation (VIDEO) of the Slovene banking system, VZMD had in the past repeatedly pointed out the incestuous intermeshing of the European officials with the transnational financial industry.
Later in the day, Mr. Verbič, as a partner of the Kazakh-Slovene Business Club (KSBC), attended the seminar entitled "How to Do Business in Kazakhstan" at the Secretariat-General of the Republic of Slovenia, organized by the SPIRIT Slovenia in collaboration with the Kazakh Invest, the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Vienna and the Kazakh-Slovene Business Club. The event was intended as a preparatory seminar for the Slovene-Kazakh business forum accompanying the return visit from the Kazakh business delegation, which will take place between 23 and 25 April in Ljubljana. The return visit from Kazakhstan is a response to the visit of the Minister of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Zdravko Počivalšek, at Expo Astana in June 2017, and is a continuation of a multi-annual successful cooperation of Slovene and Kazakh business delegations.
The VZMD President visited Kazakhstan in 2013 as a member of the business delegation accompanying the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Karl Erjavec. As part of the international business-investor programs Invest to Slovenia - investo.si and International Investors' Network - invest-to.net Mr. Verbič actively participated at the Kazakh-Slovene business conferences organized in June 2013 in the capital city of Astana (VIDEO by Slovenian national broadcaster) and at the Kazakhstan's business, cultural, and scientific center Almaty, which were attended by representatives of more than 230 Kazakh and 28 Slovene companies. Yesterday's preparatory seminar kicked off with opening speeches from the Director of the Public Agency SPIRIT Slovenia, Mr. Gorazd Mihelič, the President of the Kazakh-Slovene Business Club, Mr. Dejan Štancer and the Consul from the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Vienna, Mr. Kerim Kozhamberdiyev. These were followed by presentations of bilateral economic relations between Slovenia and Kazakhstan, the program of the business visit to Kazakhstan, business and investment opportunities, companies and institutions from the Kazakh business delegation, the Kazakh-Slovene Business Forum, and several Slovene companies.
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