At the bilateral meeting before the plenary session, the ministers reviewed the current state of economic cooperation and agreed that the Economic Commission session was a good opportunity to enhance cooperation in areas where it had already been established, and explore possibilities in new areas.

Economic cooperation between Slovenia and Turkey has seen positive trends in terms of trade in goods, services and investments, and if such a trend continues, bilateral trade will exceed EUR 1 billion in 2019. The purpose of the Economic Commission session was to identify areas and activities to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. The parties agreed that there were opportunities in many areas such as investment, tourism, transport, agriculture, forestry and food, science and technology, sport, information technology, and consumer protection. Representatives of the Slovene and Turkish ministries and institutions from different fields reviewed cooperation in the recent period, coordinated plans for future work and drafted the text of the Protocol, which provides the basis for future work and activities.

During the session, a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Sport was signed by Dr Jernej Pikalo, Minister of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia, and Dr Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu, Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Turkey. The Memorandum will open up many opportunities for cooperation in this field, especially in winter sports, school sports and the “sports industry”.

On the margins of the session, Dr Darja Majkovič, Director-General of the Agriculture Directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, and Osman Nuri Beyhan, Deputy Director-General of the DG for International Agreements and European Union at the Ministry of Customs and Trade of the Republic of Turkey, also signed the Action Plan for Cooperation in Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry for the period 2019–2021. The plan includes a timeline of agreed activities which will be carried out in the relevant areas.

On the occasion of the visit, the Turkish delegation visited the Planica Nordic Centre and held talks with its management.