STA, 14 December 2019 - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting Slovenia on Saturday for talks with his Slovenian counterpart Miro Cerar and other senior officials. Wang and Cerar will discuss the two countries' political and economic relations and aim to come up with new cooperation opportunities in various areas.
This will be first visit by a Chinese foreign policy chief since 2008, according to the Slovenian Foreign Ministry.
The official visit is designed to strengthen political dialogue as well as discuss global issues and cooperation within forums such as EU-China cooperation, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) forum and the 17+1 initiative, which brings together China and Central and Eastern European countries.
Cerar is expected to attend the ASEM meeting in Madrid on Sunday and Monday. Foreign ministers from 30 European and 21 Asian countries are to discuss strengthening multilateralism, global and regional issues as well as bolstering sustainable connectivity between the two continents.
While in Slovenia, the Chinese foreign minister will also meet President Borut Pahor, Speaker Dejan Židan and Prime Minister Marjan Šarec.
China is Slovenia's key trading partner in Asia and ranks 13th among Slovenian major trading partners.
In the first nine months of 2019, trade in goods between China and Slovenia exceeded EUR 1 billion, with Slovenia importing EUR 887 million and exporting EUR 191 million worth of goods.
Moreover, after seven years of cooperation based on the 17+1 initiative, Slovenia is seeing positive business results. The two countries also cooperates as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
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