Minister Tanja Fajon began by thanking Co-Chair Minister Nguyen Hong Dien for the support provided to Slovenian companies and the delegation during her visit to Vietnam, as well as to the Slovenian Embassy in Beijing and the Vietnamese Embassy in Vienna.

"The South-East Asian region is currently one of the most promising markets, with Vietnam as one of the most perspective economies in the region, mainly thanks to the global trend towards market diversification," said Minister Fajon. She added that the Intergovernmental Commission plays key role in strengthening the existing and identifying new business opportunities to strengthen economic cooperation, as the volume of bilateral trade, despite a positive trend, still shows a lot of room for improvement.

At the last plenary meeting of the Slovenian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation in 2019, transport, logistics, ICT and tourism were identified as the most promising sectors. During the recent high-level visit, the areas of connectivity, green technologies and digitalisation were added to this list.

At today's meeting, it was pointed out that the Port of Koper has an important strategic location in the Mediterranean and both sides expressed interest in the potential establishment of a direct shipping route between the two countries.

Other areas of cooperation discussed in depth include agriculture, tourism, culture, science and innovation, environment, climate and energy, space technologies, development cooperation and the appointment of an Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovenia in Vietnam.

In the afternoon, the Vietnamese delegation, led by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, and the economic delegation attended a business forum at the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with B2B meetings between companies and centres of excellence. On this occasion, an invitation was also extended to the Vietnamese side for cooperation in the field of environment and river basins using Slovenian space technologies.

A bilateral meeting with the Minister of Economy, Tourism and Sport, Matjaž Han, was also scheduled in the afternoon. Tomorrow, the last day of the Vietnamese delegation's visit, a visit to the Port of Koper is scheduled.