The President of the Slovak Republic Received the Chinese Premiere

Chinese Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China Wen Jiabao, officially visiting the Slovak Republic, met with President Ivan Gašparovič. The talks of the delegations were attended also by State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic Magda Vášaryová. The main topic of discussion was possibilities of developing bilateral relations, in particular in context of making trade cooperation and cooperation within international institutions more dynamic. In addition, the discussions included also the topic of intensification of the dialogue between the EU and China in the economic and political fields, also considering the fact that Slovak businessmen have not fully made use of the possibilities of the economic cooperation offered by the Chinese party. Because of its high year-to-year economic growth, China is one of the major world producers, and is a great business challenge and interesting opportunity for Slovakia. The President of the Slovak Republic declared the interest of the Slovak party to extend the cooperation, in particular in the environmental area (the Green China Project has been negotiated already by former President Rudolf Schuster) and in the fields of engineering and chemical and wood processing industries. During the talks, President Ivan Gašparovič also declared the support of the Slovak Republic for the Framework Agreement between the EU and the People’s Republic of China on Strategic Partnership. The Chinese guests emphasized China’s interest in making more dynamic the cooperation with the EU, and within the EU also with particular new EU member states, Slovakia being one of them.