Slovenian Economy Minister Zdravko Pocivalsek has expressed that the country's political disputes with Croatia do not affect the economic cooperation between the two countries as Croatia will still be the partner country at the 50th Celje Trade Fair in Slovenia next week.

"Political disputes, fortunately, do not affect economic cooperation with Croatia," the minister was quoted in an interview report by Slovenian Press Agency (STA) on Saturday when he was asked if the border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia affected the economic cooperation.

"There has always been more reason in business than in politics," said the minister.

Croatia is the first partner country in the 50-year history of the fair. According to the STA report, Pocivalsek is happy that the organizers decided to connect the region beyond Slovenia's borders.

According to the minister, Croatia is the fourth biggest foreign trade partner of Slovenia, with total annual trade standing at 4.64 billion euros, of which Slovenia's exports account for 2.54 billion euros.

Mutual investment is another important part of their bilateral economic ties. According to Pocivalsek, Slovenia has so far invested 1.61 billion euros in Croatia, while Croatia invested close to 1 billion euros in Slovenia.

"What crowns the cooperation with Croatian is tourism. It is important that the number of Croatian guests in Slovenia grows and, the more successful we are in the sense of what we have to offer, the better we will be," said the minister.

According to Pocivalsek, the 50th anniversary of the fair coincides with stable economic growth in Slovenia, which has finally almost reached the growth levels from 2008. "Our companies are even healthier, less indebted and more export-oriented than back then," he said.