At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini will pay a state visit to China from July 27 to 29, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

This will be Pellegrini's first visit to China since taking office as president. In response to a related query, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said President Xi will hold talks with President Pellegrini to jointly draw a blueprint for the future development of China-Slovakia relations, and have an exchange of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Zhao Leji will meet with him respectively. 

Slovakia is among the first countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with New China, and is also China's important cooperation partner in Europe. Under the strategic guidance of President Xi and Slovak leaders, the two countries have maintained robust ties and yielded fruitful outcomes in cooperation across various fields. 

Through this visit, China is ready to work with Slovakia to deepen traditional friendship and political mutual trust, better synergize development strategies, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, and add new dimensions to China-Slovakia strategic partnership.