Slovakia, a recent EU entrant from Central Europe with low labor costs, can be a highly attractive destination for Japanese investors, Slovakian Ambassador to Japan Peter Vrsansky said Tuesday. Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia until 1993.

Following the fall of communist rule in that nation's 1989 Velvet Revolution, it has privatized the public sector. It joined the European Union last year and has enforced investment tax reforms and decentralization.

"The location of our country at the heart of Europe is attractive to Japanese investors. We are close to Russia, France, Germany and other countries," Vrsansky said during a visit to The Japan Times.

"We have a good geographical location, transport possibilities . . . favorable tax system and state support for investors," he said. "Our labor force prices are very low."

Investment seminars held by the embassy in the Tokyo area have been popular, attracting 300 business leaders, he said.