TPV assistant director Tomaž Savšek told the STA that the new plant, based in the province of Liaoning, one of China's industrial centres, would produce car parts for luxury cars.

However, Savšek did not say how much the investment would cost or reveal the name of the company's partner in China.

This comes after the company has announced major investments at its Novo Mesto-based facility. The company signed major deals with BMW and Volvo last year and it intends to invest EUR 60m in innovation over the next few years.

The business forum accompanying the 16+1 summit was attended by the representatives of nine Slovenian companies, among them Dimitrij Zadel, the CEO of port operator Luka Koper.

Commenting on the planned Chinese investments at the ports of Rijeka and Trieste, Zadel said that these would help the development of the two ports.

He added that the four north-Adriatic ports, Koper, Rijeka, Trieste and Venice, were rivals, while at the same time all of them were also trying to establish this region as a global player among ports in the Mediterranean.

Prime Minister Marjan Šarec meanwhile labelled as an important step the signing of a framework cooperation agreement between the Engineering Academy of Slovenia and the Nanjing Jiangning Economic and Technological Development Zone to establish an international science and research centre.

The forum in Dubrovnik brought together about 1,000 participants, more than a third from China. Among the participants were representatives of 130 large businesses, more than 360 SMEs and more than 100 financial institutions, agencies and startups.