BELGRADE: Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek met with a visiting Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) delegation on Sunday and held talks to expand the ties between the former Yugoslav state and China.

During the meeting at Strmol Castle in northern Slovenia, Drnovsek said every individual and country needs to fight climate change, and large countries such as China, the US and India have important roles to play in preventing pollution.

Stresing the need to preserve cultural heritage and tradition, he said the impact of globalization would be positive as long as it made one's life better. It must not be allowed to destroy the traditional ways of life.

Qiangba Puncog, the head of the delegation and chairman of the TAR government, said the visit was a major step toward greater cooperation between the TAR and Slovenia.

Puncog, who arrived in Slovenia in the middle of last week at the invitation of the country's Foreign Ministry, said he attended numerous beneficial talks with Slovenian government institutions on culture, organic farming and tourism.

He also agreed to allow a Slovenian crew to shoot a film on Tibet, he said.

Puncog and Drnovsek talked about the Slovenian president's visit to Lhasa last year.

Slovenian parliament speaker France Cukjati and the heads of deputy groups received Puncog and members of his delegation on Friday.

And a day earlier, he held talks with Economy Minister Andrej Vizjak, and Anita Pipan, in charge of the Foreign Ministry's multilateral affairs.

Xinhua

(China Daily 06/19/2007 page2)