Germany has been Slovenia’s number one business partner ever since the latter’s independence in 1991, with cars and automotive parts as the most important product groups both in trade and business cooperation. The value of Slovenian exports to Germany rose to 7.6 billion euros in 2022, over 10 percent up from 2021. Since the year 2000 the value of exports to Germany has almost tripled, while the share of the German market for Slovenian exports in that same period decreased from 27 percent to 13 percent.

On the other hand, many opportunities for fruitful cooperation remain less explored. Take for example the case of BHS. Germany is the second largest investor in Slovenia (considering ultimate investment nations) with 2.6 billion euros of investments. The largest of these investments is a fast-growing small home appliances plant BSH, part of the Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte Group. German partners recognized the local engineering and R&D potential and Slovenian BSH is now the group’s key development center for small appliances.

More investors could follow BSH’s example. Some areas of potential cooperation were also highlighted in recent German – Slovenian business events. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia recently organized a “Slovenian-German Hydrogen Day”. The German Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia organized a conference on renewable energy storage systems. Both events deal with the sustainable use and production of energy - perhaps another avenue for future partnerships.