The discussion was attended by retired ambassador Aljaž Gosnar, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time of the establishment of the Directorate for Economic Diplomacy and former ambassador to the UN and WTO Office in Geneva and Spain, who currently works as an international businessman, dr. Štefan Bogdan Barenboim Šalej, co-founder of the Slovenian Global Business Network, established Slovenian businessman in the international environment, former director of ICPE and Slovenian diplomat during PSEU 2008, and dr. Slobodan Šešum, general director for economic and public diplomacy, with extensive experience in the practice of economic diplomacy.
Ambassador Gosnar highlighted the following motto, which should be a guide for every diplomat: "If a president or foreign minister comes to visit a foreign country, it is an honour, a privilege, if an entrepreneur comes, it is an obligation." Businessmen and diplomats, also in the sense that former diplomats would be advisers to economic associations and companies regarding the countries in which they served, which would have a positive impact on acquiring business in these environments.
Dr. Šalej presented the Slovenian Global Business Network, which connects thousands of Slovenian businesspeople around the world. On SloGlobal Platform practical tools are available, e.g. a Business Directory and a Business Mep which shows where Slovenian wines are sold in a certain country or which products are produced by Slovenian companies. He called on Slovenian diplomats to actively participate in this connection and use its tools, among other things, in establishing bilateral chambers of commerce in the host countries.
The general director Dr. Slobodan Šešum stated that Slovenian economic diplomacy includes several components that must work in harmony. Among them, he singled out the meeting of the Slovenian Global Forum, which brings together representatives of MZEZ, the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport and entrepreneurs. Good and coordinated cooperation between all stakeholders results in the successes we have witnessed recently. He pointed out that entrepreneurs must first have an idea of what they want to achieve in foreign markets, and Slovenian diplomacy will help them with further steps.
Slovenian diplomats and employees of the Ministry of Economy, Tourism and Sport joined the discussion and emphasised that cooperation within the framework of Slovenian economic diplomacy is going well. In order to achieve success, it is necessary to have specific ideas of what we can do and what we want to achieve.
Source: Andraž Zidar
