On July 22, July 2026, a meeting was held at Eximbanka’s headquarters between CEO Rastislav Podhorc and his deputy, Milan Horváth, with Bilal Zahid, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Slovakia, and Andrej Štefanec, Senior Trade Advisor at the British Embassy.
The main topics of the meeting were the further development of Slovak-British economic relations, new opportunities for Slovak exporters in the British market, and possibilities for deepening institutional cooperation in supporting export transactions, including coordination with the British export credit agency UK Export Finance.
The United Kingdom is the sixth-largest economy in the world and the second-largest in Europe. For Slovak companies, it represents a vast and competitive market that offers opportunities not only to traditional industrial exporters but also to companies providing technological and innovative solutions.
According to data from the British Department for Business and Trade, bilateral trade between Slovakia and the United Kingdom reached approximately 4 billion British pounds in 2025. The value of Slovak exports of goods and services to the British market increased by 4.7% year-over-year.
Slovak exports to the United Kingdom consist primarily of automobiles, machinery, electrical equipment, industrial products, and related components. Trade in services also represents a significant part of bilateral economic relations. The total value of export transactions to the United Kingdom supported by Eximbanka over the past 10 years reached nearly 68 million euros (6 million euros in 2025).
Promising opportunities for Slovak exporters are emerging particularly in the energy sector, transportation infrastructure, electromobility, information technology, artificial intelligence, and healthcare and defense solutions. British investment plans are also creating demand for technologies related to wind and solar energy, small modular reactors, hydrogen, energy storage, the modernization of transmission grids, and emissions capture and processing.
There are also opportunities for Slovak technology companies operating in the fields of automation, digitization, e-commerce, smart solutions, financial technology, and artificial intelligence-based solutions. The United Kingdom is among the world leaders in these fields, and its market brings together a strong business community, investors, universities, and research centers.
Eximbanka is prepared to continue supporting Slovak companies as they enter the British market and expand their existing business activities through financing, bank guarantees, and export receivables insurance.