The main motive of the event From Regions to the World is an initiative of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to support Slovak exports abroad and to help Slovak companies to establish themselves on foreign markets. It is a cyclical event, which, after the Nitra and Trnava VÚCs, also took place on the territory of the Prešov VÚC.
As part of this initiative, representatives of several state departments, local government and the public sector met in a round table with small and medium-sized entrepreneurs from the region, representatives of academia and the non-profit sector to discuss the issue of helping Slovak companies to establish themselves on foreign markets.
As Ingrid Brocková, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at the meeting:
,,Our activity is focused on economic diplomacy and we as a department have an effort to open doors and come with offers to individual regions of Slovakia, where we want to help to communicate especially with small, medium-sized entrepreneurs and micro-firms. At the same time, we want to create opportunities abroad. We have the right tools for this at the Ministry, we have strengthened the business center and we also have a network of representative offices in 68 countries around the world, and we are able to link, integrate and develop cooperation and partnerships.”
As she further said, the ministry plans to raise other topics such as the corona crisis, the conflict in Ukraine and the Roma issue in the Prešov VÚC.
The participants of the meeting addressed the topics on aid in Ukraine, the MRC, dual education, linking education with practice, volunteering, as well as the problems of regional companies. During the event, letters of appreciation were presented to NGOs and non-profit organizations for their active assistance in Ukraine.
“This event is very important for the Prešov Self-Governing Region. This is the first ever such format, where representatives of the Department met with the Region and with other representatives of educational institutions, but especially the business sector, which generates jobs in our country. If the state administration, regional administration and local self-government work together, we are on the best way to overcome the problems that are troubling us,” said Prešov Mayor Majerský.
As he stressed, the main asset for the development of the region is the natural and cultural heritage.
“We are one of the most visited municipal regions in Slovakia, as we have the High Tatras, Poloniny, many other natural and cultural beauties, and this is worthy of creating jobs there, to open the gates of the region for foreign tourists and to ‘export’ this beauty abroad,” Majerský added.
The From Regions to the World event continued with a meeting at the University of Prešov and a visit to the Prešov company Spinea. On Tuesday, 26 April 2022, representatives of the PSK and the MZVEZ also visited other business entities. Specifically, Obuv špeciál in Bardejov, Agrokarpaty Plavnica, Passel Slovakia in Poprad and Chemosvit Fibrochem in Svit.
