Beijing Review: What do you think the prominent features of China-Slovenia relations are in the past 15 years?

Marjan Cencen: Fifteen years ago we signed the agreement on diplomatic relations between the new country, which was established in Europe in 1991 and China. But this does not mean that we did not have contacts before that. The proof for long traditional good relations is that last year we celebrated the 25th anniversary of sister city relations between our capital, Ljubljana and capital of Sichuan Province, Chengdu.

After the establishment of diplomatic relations, we exchanged a lot of bilateral visits on different levels. We also signed basic bilateral agreements on various fields, especially the economic field. We supported each other in international organizations. The latest example was Slovenia's support for Margaret Chan in the World Health Organization. Bilateral trade volume last year was $541 million. Of that, our exports to China were $95 million. We have established traditionally good relations in science and technology. This year, we will have another session of the Joint Commission for Science and Technology Cooperation. Cultural exchanges in specific projects and regular programs are frequent but we still have more possibilities here. For closer people-to-people cooperation, we support exchanges between media people. So far we also sent quite a lot of students in both directions. In Slovenia, there are now up to 100 students who want to study the Chinese language each year. This is amazing for a small country like Slovenia. All in all, I can say that our relations during the last 15 years have been strengthened and without any disturbances.

What are the major areas for potential cooperation between China and Slovenia?

As China is one of the major economic and trade players in the world, Slovenia shall follow the trend and try to seize the opportunities in this country. Foreign companies can do very good business because of the comparative advantages of the Chinese market. But we shouldn't forget the difference between the two countries in size. Slovenia must find a niche where it has good advantages, where it can do good business and where it can offer something attractive to Chinese market. There are more than 30 Slovenian companies present in China now, employing some 1,400 Chinese people. Some of them even established production in China, producing, for example, shoes and car parts. The other way, Chinese exports are growing very fast, but for the time being I believe this is still not something to be worried about too much, since people in our country are interested in Chinese goods.

I would like to point out sister city relations as a specific area to be further explored. It is important to define a particular interest in a certain city on our side and then establish cooperation with Chinese cities where there is a common interest. Both sides are getting more pragmatic here. That means they first try to define their interests in economy, culture and science and technology and then establish direct contacts and formalize relations. This process is going on smoothly. So far three cities on each side established formal relations. Besides, letters of intent have been signed between Beijing and Ljubljana and between Shanghai and Ljubljana. They may grow into fully established sister city relations in the next year or two.

Maybe we can do more in the field of science and technology. One specific field where we have good cooperation is the research of the karst. Karst is a geographic phenomenon and the name actually originates from a region in Slovenia. Slovenia's Karst Research Institute has already established close cooperation with Chinese partners in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Projects are going on in developing certain areas for tourism. There are also projects, developing karst regions for farming. This is an excellent case of specific area of cooperation where we can do even more in the future.