Slovenian senior officials expressed on Friday optimism about the smooth euro switch as the tiny former Yugoslav country is to adopt the euro in three days.

"We are convinced that we have set up the infrastructure and distributed sufficient information to solve problems that are bound to crop up in real time," Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk told the press in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

"We're really well prepared for the switch," Bajuk was quoted as saying by the national news agency STA.

On Jan. 1, 2007, Slovenia will become the 13th country using the single European currency euro. The country of some 2 million is the first among the 10 EU newcomers that joined the pan- European bloc in 2004 to have fulfilled the rigorous economic criteria needed to join the euro zone.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has called the switch the "biggest national achievement" since his country joined the European Union.

The Slovenian tolar and the euro will be in dual use for only 14 days -- as of Jan. 15, the euro will be the only currency. A recent EU survey showed more than two-thirds of Slovenes are happy to adopt the euro, with many saying they see it as further proof they are part of mainstream Europe.

"There was no reason for concern regarding the amount of euro banknotes and coins and about bank operations," said Mitja Gaspari, Slovenia's central banker.

According to Gaspari, Slovenia ordered some 2 billion euros (2. 6 billion U.S. dollars) in cash, even though only about a billion worth of euros (1.3 billion dollars) are currently circulated in Slovenia in tolars.

While praising the banks for their level of readiness for the switch, Gaspari also said that a backup scenario had been prepared.

Should the network of automated teller machines experience problems, banks would open additional branches on Jan. 1 and 2, while retailers will use slips instead of point-of-sale terminals, he told the press.