PRÍLEŽITOSTI A VÝZVY ČÍNSKO-SLOVENSKEJ HOSPODÁRSKEJ A OBCHODNEJ SPOLUPRÁCE V RÁMCI SPOLUPRÁCE 16+1 A INICIATÍVY „PÁSMO A CESTA“

In recent years, economic and trade cooperation between China and Slovakia has been fostered under the auspices of the "Belt and Road Initiative" and the “16 + 1 Cooperation“ platform. Although China and Slovakia differ in terms of country size, international status, political system, economic development and foreign relations, both countries enjoy favourable conditions for mutual cooperation: deep traditional friendship, high degree of similarity between economic development strategies, relatively high complementarity in industrial production and the political will to reinforce cooperation. Under the „16 + 1“ and the "Belt and Road" initiatives, Sino-Slovak economic and trade cooperation has recorded a number of achievements: bilateral and multilateral consultation mechanisms are thriving, Slovakia is one of China's major trading partners in Central and Eastern Europe, Chinese investments in Slovakia are on the increase while back-to-back freight train connection has already been implemented. At the same time, Sino-Slovak economic and trade cooperation faces five challenges: insufficient mutual awareness between China and Slovakia with regard to the social culture of the other country, the so-called `trade deficit` issue between Slovakia and China, EU concerns over China's investments and the strengthening of its relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the less positive attitude of Slovakia towards the development of relations with China and certain obstacles to increasing the volume of investments of Chinese enterprises in Slovakia.