The Slovenian Quality Association began its annual conference on Thursday, to examine ways of improving the country's macroeconomic figures by boosting quality standards.
Addressing the participants of the two-day event, the chairman of the association Jozko Cuk said that Slovenia adopted the EU system of quality upon its EU entry.
The system is to enable Slovenia to reach and surpass the EU development average, however a lot still needs to be done for achieving this long-term strategic goals, according to Cuk.
The key macroeconomic indicators, according to Cuk, suggest that Slovenia places among successful European states: it reaches 77 percent of the EU development average, its GDP amounts to EUR 24bn, while its annual economic growth stands at 4 percent.
Moreover, the Slovenian economy is export oriented, the unemployment rate is below the EU average and 25 percent of GDP goes for investment, Cuk enumerated some encouraging data.
However, a lot still needs to be done, Cuk highlighted, in order for Slovenia to surpass the EU's GDP average, including restructuring and lowering the public spending by 2.5 percent by 2013.
In addition, the Slovenian economy needs an innovation push similar to the Irish model, greater partnership between public and private sector, closer cooperation between the business sector and science, and the state withdrawing from the economy.
The Slovenian economy has to be internationalised, for which foreign investments need to be encouraged, while the education level of the labour market should be improved at the same time, according to Cuk.
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