Slovakia’s President Peter Pellegrini met with President Xi Jinping today, the second day of a three-day state visit to China. The readouts from both sides make clear that their talks, which began with an official bilateral meeting of more than an hour and continued during the state banquet which followed, were substantive and broad-ranging, covering everything from Pellegrini’s request that Slovak companies, and European manufacturing in general, be given better access to the Chinese market, to the urgency of dialogue and negotiations to resolve the multiple regional wars, and the need for positive relations between China and the European Union, of which Slovakia is a part.
The spirit of the talks is best conveyed by Pellegrini’s post on X after his “inspiring and forward-looking meeting” with President Xi. “The future belongs to nations that embrace innovation, invest in knowledge, and foster international collaboration. By strengthening partnerships in research and development and encouraging the exchange of ideas and expertise, we can unlock new opportunities for sustainable economic growth, technological progress, and greater prosperity for our people,” he wrote.
Among the key decisions reached is an agreement to strengthen cooperation between Chinese and Slovakian universities and scientific and research institutions, the Slovak Office of the President reported. Both agreed, for example, on the importance of creating international rules to ensure artificial intelligence “truly serves all people and does not become the subject of a new geopolitical struggle and division and … must remain under human control,” Pellegrini reported,
