Rastislav Podhorec, CEO of the Export-Import Bank of the Slovak Republic, and Matúš Šársky, Director of the International Relations Department, were part of the business mission to Italy led by Richard Raši, Chairman of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. The aim of the mission, which took place on 20. – 21 January, was to open new opportunities for Slovak exporters and to strengthen strategic cooperation with Italian partners.
“Slovak companies have a lot to offer – technically, in terms of price and quality. The role of the state and its institutions is to help them get to big contracts and relevant partners. That is why every such political-business mission has a concrete economic significance,” said Rastislav Podhorec, CEO of Eximbanka.
The business mission focused mainly on Slovak solutions in the field of sustainable energy and construction. It is in these sectors that our companies have technologies and know-how that are of growing interest on the Italian market. Eximbanka is ready to support these projects throughout their entire life cycle – from production for export to the actual implementation of the contract abroad.
“Our goal is to be a partner to Slovak companies when entering complex and capital-intensive projects. Through appropriate financial products we can support export production, insure risks and open doors to international partnerships ,” stressed Rastislav Podhorec.
During the mission, representatives of Eximbank held high-level meetings with SACE, the Italian export credit agency, In meetings with SACE CEO Michele Pignotti, Chairman of the Board Guglielmo Picchi and Director of International Relations Paola Valeria, both sides confirmed their common interest in closer cooperation in promising areas such as energy – with an emphasis on nuclear energy, in particular small modular reactors (AMR) – the defence industry and infrastructure projects.
Eximbanka and SACE also raised the topic of cooperation in the coordinated involvement of Slovak and Italian companies in large EPC projects in global markets. In this context, Eximbanka actively offers its available insurance capacity to partner institutions and global banks in exchange for the involvement of Slovak exporters in international projects.
Italy has long been one of Slovakia’s most important export territories. Eximbanka has historically supported exports of Slovak companies to Italy in the amount of almost 2 billion euros, thus confirming the strategic importance of this market for the Slovak economy.