SLOVENIA

Janez Drnovšek
President

(pronounced "JAN-ess der-NOV-shek")

"Slovenia will be an incubator of ideas, a meeting point of cultures, a bridge of co-operation and the safe fireplace of cohabitation between civilizational, religious and cultural traditions of the European west, east, north and south."

The Republic of Slovenia, one of the five successor states to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is bordered by Austria to the north, Italy to the west, Croatia to the south, and Hungary to the east. It has 40 km (25 mi) of shoreline on the Adriatic Sea. Slovenia covers an area of 20,041 sq km (7,738 sq mi). The capital city is Ljubljana.

Slovenia had an estimated population of nearly two million in 2002, 91% of whom are Slovenes. The remaining 9% are Serbs, Croats, Italians, and Hungarians. The official language is Slovene, written with the Latin alphabet.

The official currency is the tolar . Slovenia's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is approximately US $18,000 (2002 estimate). Some 65% of total exports go to European Union (EU) members. Consumer goods, manufactured goods, and machine and transport equipment each account for about one-third of Slovenia's exports.