Slovenia to take up double taxation treaty with India

"The first should be signing of Free Trade Agreement between EU and India... Then we will negotiate with the Indian government on signing an agreement on (avoiding) double taxation," Slovenian Ambassador to India Janez Premoze said.

"I believe some time next year, it should happen," he said.

Once the agreement is put in place, the business transactions between the two countries would become safe and cheap and the bilateral trade would double, he told PTI here.

"We want to double our trade with India...and we will be able to do it...(once the agreement was signed)," he said.

A double tax treaty allows that tax paid can be offset in one of the two countries against tax payable in the other, thus avoiding double taxation.

According to Premoze, the trade between the two countries was 215 million euro last year and it is growing at a rate of 20-22 per cent every year.

Premoze who is here to participate in a seminar "Slovenia - A Logistics platform for Central and South Eastern Europe" organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said his country would also consider operating direct flights to India.

"We are interested in providing direct flights but for that the number of Indian visitors should increase," he said.

The envoy said Slovenia is also eager in inviting investments particularly in auto components and pharmaceutical sector. "We know with the presence of global auto companies, Tamil Nadu has huge potential for attracting investments in the auto components sector," he said.

Of the total trade between the two countries, imports by Slovenia accounted for two-third, while exports to India stood at one-third, he said.