LJUBLJANA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Jia Qinglin, head of China's top political advisor, said here Monday that China's policy of expanding friendly cooperative relations with Slovenia will always remain unchanged no matter what changes will occur in international situation and in the conditions of both countries.

    Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the remarks during a meeting with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa Monday morning.

    Jia said the 16th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between China and Slovenia falls on Monday. Bilateral relations have seen continuous development over the past 16 years, as political dialogues remained active at all levels and economic cooperation become ever stronger over the time. Bilateral exchanges in such areas as culture and education have been growing extensively. Last November, Prime Minister Jansa paid a successful visit to China, adding new impetus to the growth of bilateral relations.

    Jia expressed appreciation on Slovenia for its firm adherence to the one-China policy. He said China places great importance on developing relations with Slovenia and always regards Slovenia as an important cooperative partner in the Central and Eastern Europe region.

    Jansa said Jia's visit is of special significance since the two countries established diplomatic links 16 years ago. He said since then, relations between the two countries have reached a high level as they carried out fruitful cooperation in a wide range of fields in the principle of mutual respect and mutual trust.

    As for bilateral trade and economic cooperation, Jia said lifting the level of bilateral cooperation consists an important basis for achieving sustained growth of the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries. In recent years, under the joint effort of both sides, the scale of economic cooperation have been growing steadily as bilateral trade volume maintained an annual growth rate of 40 percent.

    Jia said the two countries should continue to tap into the potential of bilateral cooperative in three aspects.

    First, he said the two countries should give a full play to the role of governmental mixed committee on trade and economic cooperation and chambers of commerce so as to provide companies with legal assistance, policy consultation and information service.

    Secondly, Jia said the two countries should actively carry out cooperation in such key areas as energy, environment protection, technological innovation and port transportation. They should promote direct contact between the business circles by carrying out cooperation in various forms and through different channels.

    Thirdly, Jia said the two countries should encourage their local governments to carry out friendly contact and increase economic cooperation at provincial and city levels.

    Jansa said China is an important trade partner of Slovenia. Trade and economic cooperation between the countries have seen continuous growth and yet potential of further cooperation remains huge.

    Jansa expressed the wish to expand cooperation with China in such fields as trade, investment , logistics and food procession China. He said Slovenia supports companies from both countries to enhance exchanges and establish closer links so as to consolidate the basis of bilateral relations.

    As for China-EU relations, Jia said currently China-EU relations are generally in a good condition. The two sides have established many dialogue mechanisms and carried out fruitful cooperation in more than 40 fields, including politics, economy, trade, technology, energy and environment.

    Jia said China places great importance on developing relations with the European Union.

    Jia expressed the wish that the two sides should work together to continuously expand mutually beneficial cooperation.

    EU now remains the largest trade partner of China.

    Jansa said EU President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barrosoand paid a successful visit to China in April, when the first high-level dialogue on trade and economy in Beijing reached rich results by enhancing mutual understanding and deepening cooperation in various fields. He said EU highly appreciates the active role that China plays in international and regional affairs. He said as the chairing member of EU, Slovenia actively advocate strengthening the strategic partnership between EU and China.

    Jansa expressed condolence on the loss of lives and property in the severe earthquakes in southwest China's Sichuan province.

    After the meeting, Jia attended the first session of the China-Slovenia Business Council in Ljbuljana, which attracted more than 100 business persons from both countries.

    China and Slovenia established diplomatic links in 1992. Bilateral trade had exceeded 800 million U.S. dollars last year.

    Jia arrived in Ljbuljana last Saturday for an official goodwill visit to Slovenia. He will conclude his visit on Tuesday.