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President Drnovšek received State Councillor for Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China
Ljubljana, 08/31/2006 | press release
Today, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Drnovšek, received the State Councillor for Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Jiaxuan Tang.
Both assessed bilateral relations between the Republic of Slovenia and the People's Republic of China as very good and friendly. The Chinese State Councillor stressed that China appreciated the efforts of President Drnovšek in developing and strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. Dr. Drnovšek responded that China was a very important country for Slovenia and emphasised the great interest in cooperation between the countries in the political, economic as well as cultural field. He went on to say that during his visit in China he was pleased to realise that more and more attention was devoted to sustainable development, i.e. to the protection of the environment as well as to the achievement of social balance. He also mentioned China's constructive role In the UN Organisation and in the world.
Mr. Jiaxuan assessed the relations between the two countries as exemplary for the entire region and congratulated Slovenia in advance on its important role it was going to play during its presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2008. His opinion was that the relationship with Slovenia contributed to further strengthening of China's strategic partnership with the European Union. He stressed that in the process of its development China made every effort to contribute to international peace and stability and agreed on the importance of sustainable development.
President Drnovšek and Mr. Jiaxuan also talked about the possibilities of cooperation between Slovenia and Tibet. Dr. Drnovšek emphasised the importance of preserving the unique Tibetan culture and the environment. As possible forms of cooperation he mentioned projects in the field of sustainable tourism development focused on the preservation of the countryside and cultural heritage as well as projects relating to the preservation of traditional medicine and ethnobotanics respectively. The Chinese State Councillor pointed out the policy of a single China and explained that China was a multiethnic country and had been encouraging economic development and the preservation of traditional characteristics of individual cultures. He continued that the Chinese Authorities supported Tibet's communication with the world in the economic, cultural as well as agricultural field. He also said that China appreciated Slovenia's proposals for cooperation with Tibet and assured that the country would examine them carefully.
The host and his guest also discussed the question of Tibet. Mr. Jiaxuan assured that the negotiation channels with Dalai Lama's representatives continued to remain open and Mr. Drnovšek expressed his hope that both sides would find the best possible solution.
The Chinese State Councillor thanked the President of Slovenia for the constructive and interesting discussions and conveyed to Mr. Drnovšek the regards of the President of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao. Mr. Drnovšek thanked Mr. Jiaxuan for the warm regards and wished his guest and his country the best of success.