BEIJING, July 29 -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday met with Slovak President Peter Pellegrini in Beijing.

Noting that China and Slovakia share a friendship that has endured and grown stronger over time, Li said China is willing to work with Slovakia to carry forward traditional friendship, consolidate strategic mutual trust, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, expand all-round mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly promote the development and prosperity of the two countries.

China is also ready to work with Slovakia to better leverage the role of mechanisms such as the inter-governmental cooperation committee, promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, create highlights in cooperation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, and achieve a higher level of mutual benefit and win-win results, Li said, adding that China encourages more capable enterprises to invest in Slovakia.

He expressed the hope that Slovakia will continue to ensure an open, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises.

As two major economies, China and Europe have a strong endogenous driving force for cooperation, which is fundamentally based on mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, Li said. He called on Slovakia to actively promote a more positive and rational direction in EU policy toward China.

Pellegrini said that Slovakia attaches great importance to and is committed to promoting the long-term and stable development of bilateral relations with China, adding that the Slovak side is willing to strengthen exchanges at all levels with China, expand cooperation in investment, science and technology, transportation and logistics, artificial intelligence and other fields, and enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges in education, youth and other areas to better benefit the two peoples.

Slovakia looks forward to having more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country and will create a favorable environment for Chinese enterprises, Pellegrini said, adding that Slovakia is also willing to continue to actively participate in cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and within the China and Central and Eastern European Countries cooperation mechanism.

Pellegrini said that Slovakia is willing to play an active role in the constructive dialogue and open, practical cooperation between Europe and China, which are in the interests of both sides and the world as well.