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SARIO at the CEE Automotive Forum 2016

On 11th - 12th October 2016, the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) actively participated at the well-known Central & Eastern European Automotive Forum organized in Prague. Each year the event attracts more participants and draws attention to major issues and opportunities in the automotive industry.

On behalf of SARIO, Robert Šimončič, SARIO CEO, delivered a presentation - Business Friendly Slovakia - showcasing essential elements of the Slovak economy which led to Slovakia being one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. During the speech Robert Šimončič emphasized the importance of the automotive industry in Slovakia, underlined especially by the very recent investment of Jaguar Land Rover. In addition he also stressed that it is the priority of the SARIO agency to attract high added value manufacturers and R&D activities.

During the panel discussion - European and global auto trends, forecasts and policy initiatives - participants had been asked to give a short statement whether they saw other countries in the CEE region rather as competitors or as partners. Stakeholders concluded that as the sector is constantly growing and evolving, it is a complicated task to unanimously answer that question, however the panellists agreed that healthy competition drives further pursuit of improvement and excellence, not only in the automotive industry.

SARIO agency stand managed to attract many attendants interested in more information about agency’s services and agenda. Moreover, promotion of the upcoming event the Slovak Matchmaking Fair 2016 received a positive feedback.

More than 55 speakers and 200 delegates from 12 countries including OEMs, automotive related manufacturers and national agencies representatives prove that the event covered vast majority of topics which currently move the automotive industry. Case studies, Q&A sessions, B2B and networking achieved its goal to draw attention to issues and challenges in the sector and underline the importance of innovation.