STA organises debate entitled "The Crisis Will be Over What Next?"

First in a series of events STA plans to organise under the brand STA Club - STA Debate Calls for Cooperation to Overcome Crisis Ljubljana (OTS/STA) - STA general manager Bojan Veselinovic addresses a panel on the economic crisis and the period after it organised by the agency. The need for better dialogue and stronger cooperation among social partners was highlighted as crucial for overcoming the economic crisis in Slovenia at a debate organised by the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) in Ljubljana on Monday. While the debate highlighted difference in opinions on whether the crisis is over, participants agreed that cooperation among all stakeholders was key to making Slovenia's economy more competitive. President Danilo Tuerk, under whose patronage the debate was staged, said that many of the measures needed to successfully overcome the crisis were clear. These include resolute measures by the government, a serious social dialogue and efforts to alleviate the burden on the economy. "It is also known that we need social equality if we want to maintain social cohesion, which is something that is needed to truly overcome the crisis," said Tuerk. This was echoed by chairwoman of the SKB bank Cvetka Selsek, who urged Slovenia to propagate "integration, positive energy and forward-thinking". While some participants expressed conviction that the crisis was already over, others said that 2010 would likely be another challenging year, albeit not as difficult as 2009. Economist Bernard Brscic said that the global economy would likely suffer another fall before starting its recovery. But his colleague from the Economics Faculty in Ljubljana Maks Tajnikar is of the opinion that the crisis is over and that next year should be a positive year. Likewise Finance Minister Franc Krizanic is upbeat about 2010, although he announced that the government was keeping all options open. He reiterated that the government would prop up economic growth with Keynesian measures. The bosses of two of Slovenia's top companies highlighted that the crisis would be truly over only once jobs lost during the crisis would be recovered. "The crisis will not be over until consumers will fear for their jobs, until unemployment continues to rise in Europe and the world," said chairman of home appliance maker Gorenje Franjo Bobinac. Chairman of energy group Petrol Aleksander Svetelsek called for large state investment projects to propel this recovery. He cited the construction of a second railway line between the port city of Koper and the railway hub of Divaca as an example of such a project. Bobinac also said that the minimum wage in Slovenia should gradually be increased to a level satisfactory for the basic costs of living. Responding to this, the head of Slovenia's largest trade union said that an increase in the minimum wage would force Slovenian managers to look for other means of making their companies competitive aside from labour costs. Dusan Semolic stressed that an increase in the minimum wage was therefore urgent. Meanwhile, Tajnikar pointed to the need to respond to the increasing stratification of society, which is slowly eroding at the middle class as the main engine of consumption. The debate entitled "The Crisis Will be Over - What Next?" - which was sponsored by the NKBM bank and Microsoft Slovenija - was the first in a series of events STA plans to organise under the brand STA Club for its partners and the general public. STA general manager Bojan Veselinovc said on the occasion that this way the agency wanted to contribute to the debate on important social issues. Photos please see: http://www.sta.si/en/foto.php?t=0&id=155982 Rückfragehinweis: STA Slovenska tiskovna agencij Alen Pivk, Acting Editor-in-chief e-mail: gospodarstvo@sta.si Tel.: 00386 1 24 10 140 *** OTS-ORIGINALTEXT PRESSEAUSSENDUNG UNTER AUSSCHLIESSLICHER INHALTLICHER VERANTWORTUNG DES AUSSENDERS - WWW.OTS.AT *** OTE0001 2009-11-25/09:20 250920 Nov 09

OTS-ORIGINALTEXT PRESSEAUSSENDUNG UNTER AUSSCHLIESSLICHER INHALTLICHER VERANTWORTUNG DES AUSSENDERS - WWW.OTS.AT | KOP

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