The American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia (AmCham) is interested in opening a representative office in central Slovakia but needs local support first, be it from local companies or towns and regions, the TASR newswire learned on Monday, September 10.
According to AmCham head Jake Slegers, who spoke at a working breakfast held by the organisation in Banská Bystrica on Monday, as soon as such interest is observed AmCham will accumulate the so-called 'critical mass' and will be happy to open a permanent representative office and perhaps even step up its activities in the region a little. Slegers said that the chamber already entertained plans in the past to set up shop in central Slovakia following the opening of an office in Kosice nine years ago, but these ideas were held up in the end by the global economic crisis.
The breakfast also saw a discussion on the forthcoming US presidential election and its influence on Slovak-US relations. According to US Ambassador to Slovakia Theodore Sedgwick, a number of business people in the US are somewhat cagey about investments at the moment as they are not completely certain what the economic programme of the election winner will be.
Sedgwick expressed his hope that, after the vote, cooperation between the US and the EU will be, so to speak, 're-established'. That said, he was appreciative of new US investors that have continued to come to Slovakia amidst the crisis, along with the expansion of Slovak companies to the US market. Mayor of Banská Bystrica Peter Gogola, under whose auspices the event was held, said that he has decided to undertake specific measures to boost the chamber's presence in the area. The meeting between Banská Bystrica-based entrepreneurs with AmCham and Sedgwick is the first step, he said.
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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