Location Nitra Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) was the main organizer of the event under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy of the SR - the 4th Matchmaking Fair in Nitra on November 9-10, 2010. This event, organized in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of France in Slovakia, French-Slovak Chamber of Commerce, Nitra Self-governing Region, City of Nitra, Agroinstitute Nitra and other partners, is the useful tool of fulfilling Slovak pro-export policy and in the same time it is the only event of this kind in Slovakia. 4. SKB is the international matchmaking event focusing on bilateral negotiations between local and foreign business subjects with the aim to create new business relations. It follows in the footsteps of three successful years that took place in Trencin, Banska Bystrica and Presov and met with exceptional interest of businessmen, associations and professional public. Many distinguished representatives of the state administration, diplomatic corps, local administration, professional associations and business sphere participated at the opening ceremony. The event has been opened: H. E. the Ambassador of the Republic of France in the Slovak Republic jean Marie Bruno, the representative of the partnership county of the fair, the Director General of the Section of Commerce and Consumer Protection Eva Szaboova, Andrea Gulova Assigned Chief Executive Officer of SARIO, President of Nitra Self-governing Region Milan Belica, Jozef Dvonc, Mayor of Nitra and Director of Agrokomplex – Vystavnictvo Nitra Eduard Krcho. The main mission of the 4th Slovak Matchmaking Fair is the presentation of subcontracting partnership offers, tenders, available production capacities, joint venture creation demands and search for cooperation partners of Slovak companies in the field of machinery, automotive, electrotechnical, energy, chemical, wood and plastics procession industries and IT. 72 Slovak and 61 foreign business subjects from 14 countries (Belarussia, the Czech Republic, France, Croatia, Ireland, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Austria, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Serbia, Switzerland and Italy). France, the partnership country of the fair, is important business partner of Slovakia. Our trade balance is positive since our export by the end of last year reached 2,897 mil. EUR and import 1,657 mill. EUR. These numbers indicate that, as for the import, France is the seventh and as for export Slovakia´s third most important business partner. Our most important export item to France are cars, automotive parts, electrical machines, equipment, nuclear rectors, machines and mechanical equipment. From the point of view of the foreign direct investment in 2002 and 2009 SARIO agency finalized 20 investment projects with origin in France in the total volume of 47 mil. EUR and with the potential to create 1,043 jobs. The event also included two professional panel discussions on following topics: 1. Power industry Nuclear power industry in Slovakia 2. Automotive industry a) Clusters, networking and cooperation initiatives in the automotive industry b) Current trends and issues of the automotive industry focused on R&D c) Supplier networks and clustering in the automotive, cooperation and competition
