1. SLOVAKIA – THE INVESTMENT
BRIDGE BETWEEN EAST AND
WEST
Gerta Sámelová Flassiková
alianciaadvokátov

2. Slovakia – Slovenská republika

3. Slovakia
• State formation date : 1 january 1993
• Capital : Bratislava
• EU member since : 1 May 2004
• NATO member since : 2004
• Schengen member : 27 Dec. 2007
• Euro (€) : 1 January 2009
• Population : 5.5 million
• Political system : Parliamentary democracy
• Government : Left wing from March 2012

4. Slovakia centre of Europe
• Slovakia has very good geographical position sometimes
it is called the heart of Europe
• Also location of our capitaI city Bratislava is very
favourable - only 60kms to Vienna, 320kms to Prague,
200kms to Budapest.
• Large EU companies often use Slovakia as a starting
point for their further steps eastward
• The same applies for the Russian and Asian companies
on their way to the EU

5. Economy
• Economy – an open economy
• Real GDP reached 3.5% in 2012 and it was one of the
fastest rates among all EU countries
• Russia is Slovakia´s 3rd largest business partner
• Export to Russia - mainly cars
• Strong in – world´s largest car producer per inhabitant
(Volkswagen, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Kia Motors)
• Further export –machinery, medical equipment,
pharmaceutical products, paper products
• Imports from Russia – mainly raw materials

6. Economy
• Russia is considered as very important market for the
Slovak exporters
• Eximbanka – official bank institution which supports the
export of the Slovak companies supported Slovak
exporters to Russia within last 2 years with almost I billion
Euro.
• Due to Russia ´s membership in the WTO since 2012
further development of the mutual business relations is
expected

7. Labour market
• The labour productivity in Slovakia is the highest in the
CEE region
• Highly qualified employees. This is also the reason why
many foreign investors are coming to Slovakia
• Average wage lower than in the neighbouring countries
• Unemployment rate 13.5, but varies widely from region to
region

8. Links
• Slovakia and Russia are traditionally connected
in several ways
• Slovak territory is crossed by several transport
corridors
• Traditionally there are the pipelines such as oil
and gas pipelines Družba and Bratstvo built in
the 1962 and 1968.
• Transeuropean water corridor of the Danube river
crosses 10 countries before it flows into the Black
Sea

9. Russian companies in Slovakia
• Sberbank – 3rd largest European bank began its activity
in Slovakia on 15 February 2013 after having purchased
the Volksbank
• Sberbank has concluded with the Slovak government an
Agreement on Support of Investments and further 5
agreements on collaboration is expected to be signed
shortly with the Slovak institutions
• The bank focuses on the small and medium companies
and retail
• The bank provides the loans under better conditions than
in Russia

10. Russian companies in Slovakia
• Lukoil – 14 gas stations and further under construction
• Gasprom daughter company Vemex Energo – provides
gas for households
• further around 200 small and medium companies

11. Potential Projects
• Russian railroads – the construction of the wide railroads
across the territory is Slovakia is strongly considered. The
president of the Russian railroads Vladimir Jakunin stated
during his visit in Slovakia in April that the most practical
route would be through the Slovak territory
• 450kms on the Slovak territory, 60 kms in Austria
• 11 thousand working places
• Investment of 6,5 billion €
• It shall reduce the transportation time of goods from Asia
to Europe from 30 to 14 days

12. Potential Projects
 Production and reparation of the boats
 Lodenice Komárno (shipyards Komarno) has built over
60 per cent of the boats which are still sailing on the
Russian rivers
 Renewable sources of energy- urgent need for
diversification Slovakia´s energy sources. Opportunities
for thermo, solar, biomass, biogas,geothermal, hydro
biofuel and alternative fuel technologies.

13. Potential Projects
• Nuclear energy
• 50% of the energy in Slovakia is produced in two nuclear power
plants. All the blocks were built after the Russian design.
• discussions with Rosatom which considers purchase of 49% of the
shares of the company JESS which shall build the new nuclear
reactor.
• Conditions of Rosatom is the long term fixation of the the electricity
price

14. Tourism
 On a relatively small territory Slovakia can offer a great variety of
both active or passive holidays.
 Slovak Spa
 Slovakia is one of the richiest countries of the world regarding the
number and quality of mineral water resources. There is a great
number of healing spas, as well as large family aquaparks.
 All the spas can be visited all year round
 The spa heal mainly
 Dermatological problems
 Arthritis
 Cardiac problems

15. Tourism
• High Tatra mountains gives the good combination of winter sports and
summer activities.
• skiing,snowboarding or sledging in the winter
• tracking, climbing, hunting or fishing in the summer

16. Doing business in Slovakia
• Why to do the business in Slovakia
• Country with a stable economic and political situation
• Very good telecommunication coverage
• Good standard of living and relatively low costs of living
• Slovakia – member of the Schengen Area, which
guarantees the free movement of persons once you are
there
• Traditional culture of the country is a combination of the
European and Slavic culture

17. Legal aspects of the business
• The most usual way to set up a business is to establish or purchase a
company – limited liability company
• Established within a short visit to Slovakia
• Registered capital - Euro 5000, only formally, from October to be
deposited in the bank
• Registration of the company within 5 working days from filing to the
court
• The director (konatel) of the company who acts on behalf of the
company can be either a local person or a Russian citizen with the
residential permit – max 3 years.
• Recently a business plan has been required from the businessmen at
the foreigner´s s police

18. Real estate
 In principle there is no legal limitation for the foreigners
to acquire the real estate in Slovakia.
 Certain limitations apply to the foreign individuals who
would like to purchase agricultural land.
 Purchase of real estate is still considered as a relatively
safe form of investment
 Use the lawyer for drafting the contract
 Attention to be paid to –
 Property title and owner
 Non existence of the burdens
 Form and time of payment

19. Real estate
• Once the contract is signed before the notary it should be
filed to the Cadastre office which shall within 30 days pass
a decision on the registration of the property title (15 days
for extra payment)
• The purchaser shall become the owner of the real estate
only when this decision is passed, not by signing the
purchase contract.
• There is an internet portal where you can check most of
the existing real estates in Slovakia (in Slovak only)

20. Taxation
• From the 1 January the Income tax for the companies has
increased from 19% to 23%.
• Highly critisized step
• VAT tax is 20%

21. Schengen Visa
 Should you like to visit EU for the purpose of
 Tourism
 Business
 Conference
 Sport
You should apply for Schengen visa which entitles you enter the
whole Schengen territory 22 countries (from Slovakia in the east to
Portugal in the west, from Finland in the north to Italy in the south)
Sometimes required an invitation
- If from individual, proof of coverage the costs related to the stay
- If from company, similar subject of business, coverage of the
costs
- 30 days for issuance of the visa

22. Schengen Visa
• From december 2012 - joint decision of the Slovak Foreign Ministry
and Ministry of Economy on the special regime for the citizens of
Russia and Ucraine
• If the purpose of the visit is tourism, visit of the relatives or business
the applicants shall receive multiple entry 2 years Schengen visa
• If the applicant has used legally this 2 year Schengen visa he/she
may acquire multiple entry 5 year Schengen visa
• The Foreign Minister stated that there will also be effort from the side
of the consulates to shorten the period from 10 days to 48 hours.
• It is also planned that the application for the visa could be arranged
through the postal service from certain appointed places.

23. Thank you for your attention
• Speaker : Gerta Sámelová Flassiková, managing partner
• Firm: alianciaadvokatov ak s.r.o.
• Website: www.aliancia.sk
• Tel.: +421 2 57101313
• Fax: +421 252453071
• Email:flassikova@aliancia.sk
The content of the presentation
cannot be applied as legal
counselling as this will always
be subject to actual and
specific knowledge of the
client’s situation.