Chen Bo of the secretariat for cooperation between China and countries in Central and Eastern Europe highlighted Suzhou, a city in the Yangtze river delta, as an example of a successful entry of Slovenian companies on the Chinese market.

Slovenian entrepreneurs discovered a few years ago potential for development in China, they are successful and they will hopefully take on new challenges, she told the press.

Chen, who is also the deputy general director of the EU affairs department at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, explained that 2014 was a year of promotion of investment and business cooperation between China and countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Trade between China and this region reached EUR 55.1bn last year, roughly 10% of the entire trade with the EU, while investments only just exceeded 4% of all Chinese investments in the EU.

Slovenia was described at the meeting as a relatively small country but also one that has an important geopolitical location. Thus China would especially be interested in investing in the Luka Koper port and links to other markets in the region.

Trade between Slovenia and China amounted to slightly over EUR 750m in 2012, with Slovenia exports accounting for EUR 135m. It decreased to EUR 668m last year, EUR 127m of which were Slovenian exports.