STA, 20 May 2019 - Marine Carobbio Guscetti, the speaker of the lower chamber of the Swiss National Assembly, met her counterpart Dejan Židan during her official visit to Slovenia on Monday with the pair lauding good bilateral cooperation and efficient use of Swiss contribution to cohesion funds in Slovenia.
Židan described Slovenia and Switzerland as two nations in an amicable relationship which cooperated well and ever more. Last year, bilateral trade topped EUR 2 billion, EUR 1.5 billion of which was in goods and EUR 0.5 billion in services, Židan noted, adding that trade was quite balanced.
He also welcomed growing numbers of Swiss visitors to Slovenia. Their number rose by 12% and the number of the nights they spent in Slovenia rose by 16% last year.
Židan said that he and Carobbio Guscetti also talked about Switzerland's contribution to EU cohesion funds, "which has been spent efficiently in several fields" in Slovenia.
Predsednica @ParlCH @MarinaCarobbio nadaljuje obisk v Sloveniji.
— Dejan Židan (@ZidanDejan) May 20, 2019
????
Danes uradni pogovori v DZ, sodelovanje na okrogli mizi...
V letu 2018 smo sicer zabeležili rast gospodarske menjave, ki je bila večja od 2 milijard EUR. Za 12% pa je večji tudi obisk švicarskih turistov pic.twitter.com/GFB97Vg5wa
On Sunday they visited the Josip Plemelj Primary School in Bled whose heating system had been overhauled under the REAAL (Renewable Energy Across the Alpine Land) project with the help of Swiss funds.
Židan also noted Switzerland's cooperation in the development of the oncology centre at the UKC Maribor hospital. The country has donated the centre two radiation devices and enables training of experts.
Carobbio Guscetti finds it "important to see the results of Swiss contributions in Slovenia". She too noted the good relationship between the two countries, and remarked that Switzerland ranks third in terms of foreign direct investment.
The speakers also discussed political developments, not only in Slovenia and Switzerland, but also in the EU and the Western Balkans.
They also talked about World Bee Day with Carobbio Guscetti commenting that she was happy to be in Slovenia on this day initiated by Slovenia, an initiative that Switzerland supported.
#journeemondialedesabeilles ? en #Slovénie. @MarinaCarobbio à propos de la disparition des abeilles : « Sans abeilles, pas de plantes; sans plantes, pas d’agriculture; sans agriculture, pas de nourriture », lors d’une table ronde en présence du réalisateur??#MarkusImhoof pic.twitter.com/XJU5ARujqU
— Parl CH (@ParlCH) May 20, 2019
Židan and Carobbio Guscetti also took part in a round-table debate at the Slovenian National Assembly marking World Bee Day.
In the afternoon, the speaker of the Swiss National Council is due to meet President Borut Pahor, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec and Alojz Kovšca, the head of the upper chamber of Slovenia's parliament, and members of the parliamentary committees on foreign policy and EU affairs.
Carobbio Guscetti will also visit Maribor, Slovenia's second city, on Tuesday.
