China Wants to Boos Cooperation with Slovenia, Government Clueless and Without Any Strategy

Wang, who will arrive in Slovenia from a visit to Finland, is expected to meet his host, Agriculture, Food and Forestry Minister Dejan Židan, as well as Prime Minister Miro Cerar, President Borut Pahor and National Assembly Speaker Milan Brglez.

The vice premier will be accompanied by representatives of Chinese companies from the food industry, real estate, construction, engineering, wood processing and metal industry, services sector, chemical industry, energy and tourism.

According to the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), the business delegation will also feature representatives of the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), the second-biggest state-owned company in China, which is currently constructing city railway in Saudi Arabia's Mecca.

Also coming to Slovenia are representatives of the China Construction Bank (CCB), one of the "big four" state-owned banks in China. CCB was the second biggest bank in the world in 2011 by market capitalisation and the 13th biggest corporation in the world.

As part of the visit, a Slovenian-Chinese business forum will be held in Ljubljana on Friday, to be addressed by both Židan and Wang as well as GZS president Samo Hribar Milič and president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Jiang Zengwei.

At the forum, Chinese executives will be acquainted with the business and investment environment in Slovenia, incentives for foreign direct investments, privatisation process in Slovenia and regional and municipal projects.

Slovenia's trade with the world's second-largest economy has been rather modest, standing at EUR 427m in the first seven months of the year. Slovenia exported EUR 78m in goods and services to China, while importing EUR 349m from there.

Last year, bilateral trade amounted to EUR 665m, which was EUR 90m less than in 2012. Exports to China amounted to EUR 126m, while imports stood at EUR 538m.

The amount of investments between the two countries is also relatively modest, but the Chinese are very interested in investing in Slovenia, primarily in logistics and certain industrial sectors.

TAM Durabus, a Chinese-Dutch joint venture, for example re-launched bus production in the city of Maribor in spring 2013. However, the company is still waiting for subsidies promised by the government.

While China's investments abroad are to surpass the amount of international investments in China for the first time this year, the country's economic growth is slowing down. Last year China recorded a 7.7% growth, which is expected to drop to 7.5% this year.

Slovenia maintains regular political ties with the most populous state in the world and almost all senior Slovenian officials have visited China since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1992.

Wang's upcoming visit is meanwhile one of the highest official visits from China so far. He is one of the four Vice Premiers of China, which is the official name of the Chinese government, and is in charge of agriculture, water resources, commerce and tourism.

The 59-year-old Wang is also a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, a group of 25 officials overseeing the Communist Party. Between 2007 and 2013, he served as the Communist Party Secretary of Guangdong.

Western media portray Wang as one of the leading reformers in China's top leadership and one of the most liberal members of the Chinese elite, advocating economic and political reform.

Source: SloveniaTimes