Mr. President, Mr. Ivan Gasparovic,
Ministers (Margrethe Vestager & Tomas Malatinsky),

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to be part of the opening of the Danish-Slovak Innovation and Business Forum. I would like to thank the Confederation of Danish Industry for organising and hosting this event.

We are very honoured that you, Mr. President, has accepted the invitation to promote and support the Slovak companies in establishing future partnerships with Danish companies and address the Forum.

The development of trade between Denmark and Slovakia has strongly increased during the last decade. Clearly, Slovakia’s entry into the European Union in 2004 is one of the main reasons for this. Besides, Denmark and Slovakia also have many things in common, which have positive effects on the commercial relationship between our two countries. Denmark and Slovakia are relatively small counties surrounded by greater, more economical powerful neighbours.

This forces us to be both innovative and increase the willingness to adapt to an ever changing business environment. Also, both our countries are open export oriented economies, and we face the same challenges on the international markets when the global economy fluctuates.      

The reason we are all here today is to further expand and enhance these strong commercial ties between our two countries within innovation, sustainable development and green technologies. In a globalised world, countries like ours depend on maintaining and extending commercial partnerships.

An example of such partnerships can be found in the agricultural sector where Slovakia is benefitting from Danish know-how and experiences. Likewise, Danish companies are attracted by the favourable framework conditions for establishing or doing business in Slovakia.

The Danish-Slovak Business Forum is an ideal platform for creating mutual beneficial trade relations between Danish and Slovak companies.

I personally hope that all participants here today will have fruitful discussions resulting in new business opportunities.

Thank you for your attention.