This week I am going to be investigating four nations that I think have intriguing investment opportunities that are part of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. We will start with Slovenia, move to Honduras, then to Nigeria, and finish up with Chile. These reports will talk about the nation, its history, its economy, and why it is an interesting investment moving forward. This will help us get into the spirit for the World Cup and connect it to investing!
When I was in college, I did a study abroad program in Washington, DC at American University, studying the breakup of Yugoslavia and the war in Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia that followed. Slovenia or, more officially, the Republic of Slovenija, was a former member of the Yugoslav Republic, and it is actually the most successful nation that came out of that bloc. I actually traveled to the nation very briefly as part of the program, and while in Washington, DC, we met with the Slovenian Ambassador to America. It is a truly beautiful and fascinating nation that has a compelling future.
Slovenia has a rich history as being part of some of the most powerful empires in the world. It was a part of the Byzantine Empire, the Austrian/Ottoman Empire, and even the Roman Empire. The country was under Communist rule in Yugoslavia from the end of WWII until the 1980s. The country experienced four decades of rule under Marshall Tito, who helped link many different ethnic groups and religions under the Yugoslav flag for years. In January of 1990, Slovenia left the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and declared independence. The nation, in the same year, elected a new Christian Democrat Lojze Peterle, who began economic and political reforms that would introduce a market economy and liberal democracy. By 2004, Slovenia was able to join NATO and the European Union. In 2008, the nation was the first post-Communist nation to hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The nation is quite small with only just over 2,000,000 citizens and only 20,273 square kilometers. The population is similar to the size of Nevada or Utah, while the area is similar to the state of New Jersey. The country is ranked 29th on the Human Developmental Index and is devoutly Roman Catholic. One of the most interesting things that you most likely did not know about Slovenia is that it is ranked…
