Nowadays, globalization is a key element for any national economy and Slovenian economy has not been an exception. Slovenia grasped the opportunity and developed an active strategy in order to draw profit from globalizations advantages and at the same time to share responsibility for the control of related risks at the international level. After all, it is reasonable for a small country to give priority in joining international socioeconomic organizations and use them as a vehicle for connecting to global production systems, as well as world trade and finance.

In order to achieve that Slovenia has a natural ally. Lying at a junction of natural trading routes, it has always been a crossroads and a huge gateway from Eastern to Western Europe. Additionally it has a rich industrial history and a traditional openness to the world. This had been further reinforced by its entrance in the European Union’s and the subsequent boost of trade links with Western Europe.

One of the ways of measuring the level of globalization of a national economy is by measuring the average share of exports and imports in gross domestic product (GDP). In Slovenia the aforementioned share increased from 52% to 70% from 1995 to 2008.

In the early 90’s Slovenia faced an economic shock, when it lost the Yugoslav markets in which it channeled most of its products. Therefore a new trading policy was formulated and the bulk of trade was reoriented towards the EU and associated countries. In 2008, the Slovenia– EU trade accounted for over two thirds of Slovenia's trade. Nevertheless, traditional links with the countries of the former Yugoslavia not disappeared, in the contrary during 2008, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina was in the first ten trading partners of Slovenia.

Total exports during 2009 in Slovenia amounted to approximately $24.3 billion, whereas total imports to $22.9 billion.  The product composition is still dominated by semi-finished and intermediate manufacturing goods, though this tendency is shifting gradually. The shares of textiles, clothing and steel in merchandise exports are declining slightly, while those of automotive products, electronics and pharmaceuticals are increasing.

Another indicator that showcases the internationalization of the Slovenian economy is the amount of foreign direct investment inflows. In the past years Slovenia had a low level of FDI inflows something that indicates that the country was not widely recognized as an attractive location for mobile investment. The main reasons are generally associated with the fact that Slovenia in the first half of the 90’s was a young country starting the transition to a market economy that faced a malfunctioning privatization process that left less room for foreign investors than in other countries in the region. Additionally, the domestic service sector was ahead of other countries of the area something meant that foreign companies had to make greater efforts than in other countries in the region to win the same market share.

Of course throughout the years the aforementioned situation has altered as existing foreign-owned companies are expanding as they are continuing to try concentrating a bigger share in the market. In 2008 the total amount of FDI was11 billion Euros.