Gertrude Enderle-Burcel, Dieter Stiefel, Alice Teichova (Hrsg.): Sonderband 9. „Zarte Bande” – Österreich und die europäischen planwirtschaftlichen Länder / „Delicate Relationships” – Austria and Europe’s Planned Economies (2006)
Žarko Lazarević /Jože Prinčič: Slovene-Austrian Economic Relations, 1945-1991 (A View from Slovenia)
Slovene-Austnan Economic Relations, 1945-1991 discussed. Also important is an extensive fond of the Federal Chamber of Commerce (1962-1989), which also united economic subjects with the purpose of advocating economic interests. The division of powers was thus as follows: the policy of international economic relations was formulated at the federal level, whilst the execution of the agreements on economic cooperation was within the competence of individual republics. This is reflected also in the materials in the fonds stored in the State Archives of Slovenia. The materials have been available since the early 1990s. Also indispensable for dealing with Slovenia's international economic cooperation are the fonds of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia. Both fonds are extensive and contain also an inventory of materials, which eases the orientation through materials. The materials in the fonds of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia bear witness to Slovenia's endeavours for promotion of economic exchange and cooperation with Austria. The Chamber of Commerce's fond contains a different type of materials. As it is an economic interest association, the materials pertain largely to individual companies. Materials on cooperation with Austria can be found in various Chambers’ units: in departments for international economic cooperation, foreign trade, international affairs, and international technical cooperation as well as in the materials related to Alps Adriatic the Working Community. Historical Background Austria has always been a very important economic partner for Slovenia. Economic relations have been established over a few centuries of shared history under the Habsburg Monarchy and they remained in place also after 1918 when the Republic of Austria and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (which included also Slovenia) were established. In the period between World War I and World War II, Austria was Slovenia's most important trading partner. The majority of Slovene imports and exports were realised with Austria. Imports from Austria covered most of Slovenia’s needs for industrial consumer goods and production material for developing industry, as well as the investment needs and goods, such as machines. At least one-fifth of all the equipment imported into Yugoslavia was installed in Slovenia.1 As regards exports from Slovenia, not much changed in the years after World War I compared with the pre-war period. Wood (raw or sawn), mining and metallurgical products and to a small extent also some products from the chemical industry remained the most important export products. The main agricultural exports comprised fruit, wine, eggs and cattle. Austria was the biggest buyer of these exports. Moreover, imports of equipment for agricultural production, such as 1 Sorn, Joie: Slovensko gospodarstvo med dvema vojnama. In: Zgodovina Slovencev. Ljubljana, 1979, (p. 686-699), p. 699. 235
