At the first Slovak Export Forum Slovak businessmen had an opportunity to meet and negotiate in person with ambassadors and economic diplomats from Slovak embassies in more than 60 countries all over the world. The event was held by the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) together with the Business Center of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic (MFEA SR) on Wednesday 21 June in Bratislava.The Slovak Export Forum 2017 was introduced as an innovative tool of state support for exporters and entrepreneurs interested in expanding to foreign markets. During the business meetings (B2G - business to government), entrepreneurs had the chance to acquire first-hand information on business opportunities in various countries of their choice. Economic diplomats, on the other hand, had the possibility to get to know high-quality Slovak companies, products and services with the potential to succeed in their assigned territories.There were 104 companies and 62 economic diplomats present at the forum, together with SARIO consultants and finance and insurance experts from EXIMBANKA more than 200 participants attended the event. In total there were 531 registered personal meetings and consultations, In addition, many other business meetings took place at the venue.A report identifying the potential and opportunities for economic diplomacy of the Slovak Republic should be one of the outcomes of the event.The event was opened by the MFEA SR State Secretary L. Parízek, General Director of SARIO R. Šimončič and the General Director of EXIMMABKA SR D. Keketi. Among other things, all of them agreed that there is a need to use the synergies between different state support tools to promote the business interest of Slovak exporters on foreign markets. The multi-stakeholder co-operation remained to be one of the key ideas also during the three-day conference that followed at which economic diplomats and business representatives openly discussed the challenges and opportunities in this field.
