Envoy flies out on a high note

Return to Slovenia seen as beginning of new effort to draw nation and China together

Minutes before he flew out of Beijing recently, Bernard Srajner, the minister plenipotentiary of the Slovenian embassy in Beijing, was still contacting friends in China to bid them farewell.

"Dear friends, after six very nice years in China, I am moving today back to Europe," he said in his last text message sent from the aircraft, with his e-mail and mobile number in Slovenia. "Thank you for your friendship and hope to see you somewhere."

Srajner, who left on July 31, is keen to stay in touch with his home of the past six years not just because of those strong friendships, but because he realizes the importance of China's role in the world.

Rather than looking on his departure as the end of his official duties as a Slovenian diplomat in China, Srajner looks at it more as a fresh start.

"Even after I go back to Europe I will still work hard on creating business cooperation between Slovenia and China, and promoting my country to the emerging market," he says.

Slovenia, a member of the European Union, is in Central Europe, a junction where languages, culture and trade meet.

The EU is Slovenia's largest trading partner, about 72 percent of Slovenian exports and 77.5 percent of total imports going to and coming from EU countries last year.

The European debt crisis has underlined China's importance as another partner for the Balkan country, and trade between the two has continued to flourish.

Trade between the two was worth $1.56 billion (1.24 billion euros) in 2010, almost 75 percent more than that of the previous year, when the European crisis began to unfold.

Last year the figure rose to $1.9 billion, and Slovenia is now the top trade partner of China in the former Yugoslavia.

When Premier Wen Jiabao met leaders, including Slovenian counterpart Janez Jansa, at the China-Central and Eastern Europe Business Forum in Warsaw in April, he said Slovenia was on a sound industrial and technological footing.

Xinhua News Agency quoted Wen as saying China welcomed Slovenian investment and encouraged Chinese companies to do business in Slovenia.

China is willing to work with Slovenia to build infrastructures in Central and Eastern Europe, explore export opportunities and develop the regional market, he said.

At least 30 Slovenian companies, most of them in the high-tech industry, now have offices and representatives in China. Slovenian companies attended the China Beijing International High-Tech Expo for the first time in May, an annual technology expo held in the capital and sponsored by national government agencies.

"China used to be the world's factory, but now it's changing into the world's consumers and innovators," Srajner says.

"More Chinese companies are willing to invest in high technology projects, while we have many advanced innovations in Slovenia."

In Slovenia, all foreign investors are treated no differently to domestic companies, and this has been helpful in attracting foreign capital, Srajner says.

"We hope foreign investors improve our economy to a higher level, but we also want to benefit those investors in our market, which can be a sustainable and reliable partnership."

After three years as deputy ambassador and three years as commercial counselor for Slovenia, Srajner is expecting more investment and cooperation opportunities from a much more open China.

Following the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, he says, there has been more debate through Chinese media, and the society is much more tolerant toward different opinions, adding that a more open-minded China is more attractive to the rest of world.

In May the Public Agency of Slovenia for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investment published an invitation to tender under a grant scheme with 4.43 million euros to promote foreign investment in Slovenia.

Borrowing the maxim of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform and opening-up, that "It doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black, so long as it catches mice", Srjner says his country welcomes all investment as long as it respects his country, including its rules and regulations.

"Everybody who is looking for skillful professional, modern logistic facilities, a friendly business environment, and a place where the European Union and the western Balkan market meets is most welcome to consider investing in our country."

One of the most notable examples of China and Slovenian working together is the co-operation between the Civil Aviation Administration of China and its Slovenian counterpart.

The two signed a technical agreement in July to recognize Slovenian certificates for aircraft from the company Pipistrel in China.

"The agreement opens doors to the Slovenian plane industry and will hopefully also encourage foreign investors to come and start production in Slovenia," said the Slovenian agency's director, Ziga Koritnik.

"This is a big step for Pipistrel," the plane maker's director, Ivo Boscarol, was quoted by the Slovenia Press Agency as saying, arguing that China is the fastest growing market, where a single order could surpass the company's entire production last year.

zhaoyanrong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/07/2012 page21)