BELGRADE, Dec. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Slovenia's Andrej Bajuk has been chosen as the best financial minister of 2005 for Europe by The Banker magazine, a prestigious publication of the Financial Times Group, a Slovenian party said in Ljubljana on Friday.

    Bajuk, leader of the ruling coalition member New Slovenia, earned the award through his contribution to Slovenia's euro changeover preparations and his fiscal policy and tax reform efforts, his party said in a statement, adding that the names of award winners in 2005 are to be published in the January issue of The Banker.

    Slovenia, a member of the European Union since May 2004, wishes to introduce the euro on Jan. 1, 2007, along with Estonia and Lithuania.

    In his New Year's message on Friday, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said that his country has enjoyed months of economic growth while achieving the lowest inflation rate in its history and fulfilling the demanding criteria for eurozone membership.

    According to the party's statement, other regional award winners include the Uruguayan Finance Minister Danilo Astori for the Americas region, Cameron's Polycarpe Abah Abah for Africa, Qatar's Yousef Hussain Kamal for the Middle East and Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram for Asia. Enditem