Archive of articles - May 2009
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Eurostat: New industrial orders in Slovakia up 2.5 percent during March
NEW industrial orders in Slovakia decreased by 29.1 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in March, following a y-o-y drop of 38.2 percent in the previous month. Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, reported on March 26 that in a monthly comparison, industrial orders grew by 2.5 percent in March following growth of 0.4 percent in February, the SITA newswire wrote.
PKO
Naughty by Nature, The Prodigy, Jethro Tull, Bobby McFerrin and Chick Korea are just some of the hundreds of artists that have, over the last couple of decades, performed at Park Kultúry a Oddychu, known simply as PKO.
Cabinet approves media complex
THE CABINET has backed the idea of joint premises – also known as the media complex – for public broadcasters Slovak Television (STV) and Slovak Radio (SRo) at its regular session on May 20, despite the disagreement of ministers from the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), a junior coalition partner, the SITA newswire reported.
New books now available
Bratislava City Guide. Lucy Mallows. Paperback: 248 pages. Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides, 2009.“Bratislava doesn’t bellow its beauty, but states its case quietly and insistently, until you wake one morning and realise you’re in love,” Lucy Mallows starts her guidebook for travellers to the capital of Slovakia.
1923 Ford still motoring
A FORD Model-T built in 1923 was the oldest vehicle travelling the roads at this year’s inaugural Gemer 2009 meeting of vintage cars in Rožňava on May 23-24.
Ministry favoured single bidder, says insider
THE DEFENCE Ministry is planning to buy two military transport aircraft for €80 million even though the manufacturer, Alenia of Italy, won the deal in a tender in which it submitted the only bid.
Renegade MPs halt talks with SMK
BÉLA Bugár, Gábor Gál and László Nagy have failed to reach an agreement with the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) leadership, the SITA newswire reported.
Countrywide Events
Western SLOVAKIA Bratislava MUSIC: HAYDN and his contemporaries are the focus of this year’s edition of the Early Music Days, which are being held at different concert halls in Bratislava. Until June 12, classical music lovers will have the opportunity of listening to famous melodies by noted 18th century composers, performed mostly by Slovak, Czech, Hungarian and Austrian soloists and orchestras. The highlight is a concert by the Hungarian Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra that will take place at St. Martin’s Cathedral on June 5, at 20:00. Tickets cost between €3 and €6. Find more information about other dates, venues at www.earlymusicba.org.
Outsourcing is growing in Slovakia
OUTSOURCING has become a useful tool in Slovakia in helping companies to achieve better results and to be more effective and innovative. Companies in Slovakia are mainly outsourcing cleaning services, catering, IT, and customer services and the reasons they most often list for doing so are to allow more focus on their core business and to save costs. The current global economic downturn has made these reasons more imperative for some companies, bringing new opportunities to outsourcing businesses.
Czech Okin Group arrives in Slovakia
THE CZECH outsourcing company Okin Group, specialising in support services, has launched a daughter company in Slovakia named Okin Facility SK. In this new form, the company is continuing its five years of operation in Slovakia, the SITA newswire wrote in mid-June 2008. Milan Janoušek, director of the facility management division at the parent company in the Czech Republic, was appointed to lead the Slovak subsidiary.
Outsourcing lessons learned
OUTSOURCING describes contracting with an external service provider to perform specific functions or processes, including information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing. While outsourcing is generally recognised as a strategy for achieving cost savings, few surveys to date have utilized a large enough sample of respondents to provide an accurate estimate of the actual amount of these savings. Deloitte has attempted to overcome this by surveying a group of 300 executives from different companies who are actually involved with outsourcing services worldwide. The findings, which Deloitte published in Why Settle for Less? Deloitte Consulting 2008 Outsourcing Report, were striking – a large percentage of companies utilizing outsourcing reached their financial objectives and averaged a return on investment (ROI) of more than 25 percent.
CVD and Ružička & partners to merge to Ružička Csekes s.r.o. in association with members of CMS
Law firms CVD s.r.o. and Ružička & partners, s.r.o. have announced a merger that will create a new law firm in Slovakia. The merged firm, which will be called Ružička Csekes s.r.o., will continue its association with CMS Cameron McKenna and CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz, members of CMS, one of the leading European providers of legal and tax services.
Caution has become a desired article
THE MASSES have a short memory and people have already forgotten that back in the 1990s Slovakia had 20-percent unemployment, collapsing companies, ailing banks and 20- to 30-percent interest rates on loans, says Ľuboš Vančo. He believes that although the global downturn is very unpleasant, its impacts on the region and specifically Slovakia are not nearly as grave as the condition of the country’s economy back then.
Euro-train targets young voters
SLOVAKIA is one of the countries implementing a 'Euro-train' project ahead of the June European elections. The train will stop at five railway stations in Slovakia to provide information to young people prior to the elections and persuade them to come to polling stations on election day. It will call at Trnava, Žilina, Poprad, Košice and Banská Bystrica.
Exhibition shows first postage stamp in Slovakia
STAMPS from the space station, postal exhibits from the beginning of the 18th century and also the first stamp valid on the territory of today’s Slovakia – all these could be seen at a national philatelic exhibition held in Nitra between May 14 and 17. Visitors were able to see more than 300 thematic panels, each containing dozens of rare pieces, Milan Šajgalík, organiser of the exhibition, told the ČTK newswire.
The not-so-golden times of Kremnica
THIS reproduction of a painting by Vojtech Angyal shows the yard of a house owned by a not so very well-off family living in Kremnica. Although the town is famous for its silver and gold works, much less is known about the individuals who once ensured this production of wealth through a number of minor but crucial jobs.
Merchants say dual price display unnecessary, Barát opposed
SOME merchants consider dual-price displays in euros and Slovak crowns to be no longer useful, according to a survey in April carried out by the Association of Slovak Consumers (ZSS), the SITA newswire reported.
Environmentally-friendly shopping bags are here
THE BIGGEST retail chain in Slovakia has begun giving its customers biodegradable shopping bags. The chain will gradually replace its traditional plastic bags with new environmentally-friendly bags in all its stores. Other big retailers say they also plan to use such shopping bags in the future.
Facts about the European Parliament
The EP is the only pan-European institution to be directly elected by the people.
Facts about the 2009 EP elections
EUParliamentary term:2009 – 2014Election days: June 4 - 7Registered voters in the EU: about 375 millionTotal seats in the EP: 736
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- Weekend: Celebration of fun comes to Malacky Photo
- News digest: Fico’s bloc wants to save money by restricting electoral access
- Slovakia plans to restrict access to new medicines amid funding shortfall
- No more photos or bank statements? Slovakia moves to ease residence process
- Top 10 events in Bratislava for foreigners More articles ›
