Following a re-evaluation of the possibilities of funding highway construction by the new Slovak Cabinet, exports of construction capacities - building materials as well as building bins - have become more necessary than ever before in the light of the Slovak Republic's economic needs. We asked its member, the Minister of Building and Public Works of the Slovak Republic, ISTVÁN HARNA, how he views in his sector the issue of export support.

The issue of export of our building capacities is becoming topical mainly now, in connection with the slowdown of the implementation of infrastructure projects lauched by the Mečiar Government. At a meeting of the Presidency of the Slovak Association of Construction Businessmen in Trenčín, we discussed the debts of state-owned investor organisations toward construction firms. Needless to say, if these firms cannot win orders domestically, it would be necessary for them to export their capacities. For example, we have a contract signed with the Federal Republic of Germany containing limits and quotas on exporting our capacities, where is, inter alia, the maximum number of our employees allowed to work in Germany. Even though the competence law assigns this activity to our sector, the quotes are still allocated by the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic - and we want to re-evaluate this. We definetely want licences granted by our ministry.

The signigicance of exports for the economy of any country is vast, but it is important to find out markets, more specifically manage to make oneself felt on them. We have set up a group granting licences and certificates for building products, exploring compatibility of our standards with those of the advanced Europe. It is highly important that our products comply with the standards applied in the European Union. It bears recalling, however, that virtually all the EU nations have a surplus in building capacities, thus it is difficult to penetrate there.

Certain possibilities of exporting construction come from the war-stricken countries of the former Yugoslavia. In early 1998, we attended in Belgrad a conference on assistance to Croatia. We offered our participation in reconstruction work and building material supplies. We came over there with a list of firms that would take part directly, offering also a possibility of forming joint Slovak-Croatian ventures. They acknowledged all, yet the countries like Croatia do suffer from the problem of financial resources probably more than we do. Rather, they had an idea having us come over with a capital which we, unfortunately, could not offer. We earned a certain promise from a standing representative of the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Croatia, Mr. Sipos. As also our ministry's state secretary bears the same name - so they are namesakes - some sympaties emerged and the World Bank's representative promised to come over to this country with some resources possibly being discovered to this end and them becoming involved in certain projects backed by the World Bank. We are also monitoring the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where we would like to get involved in reconstruction.

Many our firms have been working and are still working in Russia, but some of them are going bankrupt and leaving the Russian market because of the customers being insolvent. Our firms do not have such capital background as to be able to provide advance payment over an extended period of time for works to be carried out there. We regard the Russian and Ukrainian markets as prospective, but these in fact pose large problems in funding terms at the moment. And as regards governmental guarantees, the state cannot extend them now; indeed for Vodohospodárska výstavba alone we have had to pay some 400 million Sk. So the state cannot undertake to guarantee for any private business activities as it has no such funds.

As for building material exports, we export cement. Ceramics exports - including refractory - are not just high, we export but also import clayware from Italy and Czechia. We are faced up with difficulties in exporting walling materials since our production thereof still falls short of meeting internal demands. From the point of technological development, a need for the entry of foreign capital arises. We only export small-volumed gravels and similar semi-products. To be more specific, in the first nine months of 1998 we exported 4.7 billion franco worth building material, which however accounts for 1.7 % of the Slovak Republic's total exports. Approximately 80 % of exports are made up of Portland cements, refractory products, cement, concrete or patent stone products, ceramic paving and tiling. Exports are first of all heading to the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria.

Slovak Trade FORUM