President Jiang Zemin yesterday welcomed Slovak firms to participate in China's development of its western regions and in the construction of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
When holding talks with visiting Slovak President Rudolf Schuster, Jiang also said that China will support and encourage influential Chinese enterprises to invest in the central European country.
Official statistics indicate that Sino-Slovak trade volume in 2001 reached US$74.28 million, with Chinese exports making up the bulk.
The launch of a power station project in Shentou, North China's Shanxi Province, in which Slovak equipment has been used, has added new momentum to bilateral economic cooperation between China and Slovakia.
However, Jiang noted that there remains much room for improvement in the area of trade ties.
He suggested that economic administrative departments of both countries should give full play to their role of providing macro-guidance, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Schuster, who arrived in China on Saturday, said that his country is willing to participate in construction for the Olympic Games and the World Expo.
Developing ties with China is a focus for Slovakia, even though it is geographically distanced, as part of Europe and soon become a member of the European Union, said Schuster.
He reaffirmed his country's one-China stance and expressed willingness to develop cooperation in various areas with China.
The two presidents yesterday signed a joint statement, aimed at strengthening cooperation in the new century.
China and Slovakia pledged that they will respect each others differences and hoped to resort to honest and frank dialogues in settling any disputes that may arise between them.
Furthermore, they both affirmed their willingness to continue consultations and cooperation to help settle global issues such as terrorism, the prevention of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and environmental protection.
They also encouraged economic, scientific, cultural and educational cooperation, person-to-person exchanges and cooperation in judicial and public security areas to crack down on international terrorism, religious extremism, cross-border crime, weapons and drug trafficking, said the statement.
(China Daily January 7, 2003)
