Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu continued his official visit in Ljubljana on Thursday, meeting with Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk, Parliamentary Speaker Pavel Gantar and Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar.

During their meeting, Hui and Tuerk discussed Slovenia's potential as an important transit country in Europe for China, due to the former Yugoslav republic's geographical advantages and convenient transport routes, the president's office said in a statement.

Besides Slovenia's sole maritime port in Koper, Tuerk also pointed to the Ljubljana airport and the modernization of the country's railway infrastructure.

The two also discussed the implementation of agreements that Tuerk signed last October during his official visit to Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Tuerk and Hui also talked about cooperation in culture.

Progress in this field has been demonstrated with the planned establishment of a Confucius Institute at the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics in the near future and the opening of Slovenian language courses at Chinese universities, the statement noted.

During his meeting with Gantar, Hui agreed that an important role in Sino-Slovenian relations is played by parliamentary cooperation, adding that China wants to share with Slovenia each other's experience in the area of governance and legislation.

The two believed that the exchange of visits between the legislative bodies of both countries should be boosted to help promote bilateral ties.

The Chinese vice premier also met with Slovenian Foreign Minister Zbogar, who hosted a working lunch at the Brdo estate in northern suburban Ljubljana. Their discussion focused on climate change, as Hui is directly responsible for China's policy in this area.

Hui arrived on an official visit to Slovenia on Wednesday evening. This is one of the highest-profile visits from China since Slovenia gained independence in 1991.

Earlier on Thursday, Hui met with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor for talks focusing on economic cooperation. After the meetings with Tuerk, Gantar and Zbogar, Hui attended a Slovenian-Chinese business forum.

He will leave Slovenia for Belarus on Friday afternoon.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2009)