Now, the Chinese Know More About What They Want from Europe, and Us

Building Bridges Between Slovenia and China

Now, the Chinese Know More About What They Want from Europe, and Us

Dejan Črnek

Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia

Dejan Črnek

Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia

Date of Birth: 5 March 1964

I was born in Ljubljana and attended the Vič Elementary School and Vič Grammar School.

My personal life motto was discovered mostly through sports and working with people. At the age of fifteen I have already become a guide at the oldest sports association in Slovenia, the Narodni Dom, and later on managed groups at summer and winter field trips to nature. During the last years of my studies at the Faculty of Sport, I was employed at the Dravlje Elementary School (previously named Milan Mravlje) for four years and a year at the Secondary Carpentry School in Ljubljana. After a series of events a friend and I established the company where I still work.

During my first employment I got married at the then City Hall in Ljubljana and I am a father of two wonderful children.

My work has clearly been noticed, and I have soon become the President of the Narodni Dom Sports Association, the President of the Slovene Sokol Association, the Vice President of the Gymnastics Association of Slovenia, the Vice President of the Slovene Sport Association, and perhaps some other sports title. I was also very active in other areas and was named the President of the Parents' Council and the School Board at Šmartno pod Šmarno Goro Elementary School; the President of Parents' Council and a member of the School Board at Šiška Grammar School; and a President of the Community of Šmarna Gora Council for the first time in 2002 after local elections, where I currently mandate my third term. I usually avoid listing these titles as they mean little to me – they mostly mean satisfaction of working with people and a confirmation of my work.

As the President of the community I have along with my councillors focused on the malnourished area of infrastructure. Despite the modest funds, we have renovated the lighting at some of the streets and roads, arranged several smaller streets and prepared conditions for pavements. We have also prepared several measures to slow down traffic, guaranteed a regular bus connection between Gameljne, Šmartno, Tacen and Ljubljana, and set up an additional bus station in Gameljne.

In the current mandate the most important project will be implemented, the first phase was already approved by the City Council of the City of Ljubljana at its session in July 2010. The project is the new Community Centre of Šmarna Gora which will be built on the system of public and private partnership and will include the much needed day-care centre, a library, a market, a post office, a youth centre and much more. The construction is unfortunately in delay due to various obstacles. On the other hand we must not forget the completion of pavements and the arrangement of the water distribution and sewerage system. During this time I have become very well acquainted with the area of local self-management, and I can now alert the City Council about projects we still have to carry out in the "suburban communities", which pose quite a challenge now after the renovation of the city centre.

One thing is true, the current leading structure of the Zoran Janković List has taken Ljubljana through a rebirth, and it is my pleasure to be a part of the team in one of the segments.

I am starting my third mandate as Deputy Mayor of the City of Ljubljana. In the previous two terms, I was in charge of six very important areas for the city and its citizens: local self-government, health and social care, sports, municipal warden services, inspectorate and protection and rescue. In this mandate, I will take care of one less, as the area of sports is moving to Deputy Mayor Samo Logar. Over the past eight years, we have achieved numerous successes together and implemented many projects. I am pleased we are continuing the successful work together with Mayor Zoran Janković and the team, with which we have achieved the incredible flourishing of Ljubljana into the best green capital of Europe so far; into a green, orderly and clean city where we maintain the high-quality life of all generations of our citizens. We have by no means run out of enthusiasm for our work, and I am already looking forward to all the projects ahead of us. Some of them are already underway, others are still waiting to start. I'm looking forward to the new district community centres, among which we have just completed Golovec Centre, the opening of a new, modern indoor Olympic swimming pool at Ilirija, the start of the construction of the new Ljubljana athletics stadium, new health care centres and a homeless shelter to name just a few. Every single one of them is equally important for the quality of life and operation in our beloved Ljubljana. That's precisely why life in Ljubljana is poetry, which I, as a native of Ljubljana, tirelessly read and enjoy its instalments and the flourishing of the most beautiful city.

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One of our interlocutors during Slovenia’s presentation in China this Spring was Mr. Dejan Črnek, who participated in the Mayor’s forum in the city of Ningbo.

What are your impressions about China?

This is not my first time in China. I visited it ten years ago, and they have made a big progress, in the organization, in development, and also when it comes to plans. Now, they know more about what they want from Europe, and us. And this is an opportunity for us to make some good connections and some good business. Slovenia doesn’t have much economic cooperation with China yet. I don’t know why this is, but somehow, the opened door is now more open also because of the cities that are engaged in events like this.

Slovenia received special recognition for being an excellent exhibitor at the China-CEEC Expo in Ningbo. You have also visited the Slovenian pavilion. What was the atmosphere like for you?

“At the opening ceremony, there was a huge crowd and several high representatives of our country and China. And I also must say that from the technical point of view, it is a very nice pavilion that has everything we can offer in Slovenia. Good will, good wine, and good music, but also great sustainable projects like the industrial electric plane and promotion of Slovenian sports, in particular basketball, of course, with our players.

There are many contacts between China and Slovenia, but one in particular, between Ljubljana and Chengdu, which are sister cities. Tell us a little bit about this corporation.

“Yes. It has been established almost 45 years ago in Former Yugoslavia when those connections were very good. They had many meetings, in those times related to sports and culture, and also in order to have fun. After the period of the war, the cooperation “slowed down”, but now it’s rising again because they are very eager to have some cooperation. They’re nice people.

We cannot perform as much as they want us to because we have a lack of staff, but the cooperation is increasing. Last year, we visited Chengdu, and we talked about having a panda bear in our zoo. But this is very expensive and very complicated, so we just have a plastic panda. In the future, we will have some exchange and we will talk about what kind of exchange there will be. “

Mr. Črnek participated in the Mayor’s Forum and he addressed the audience with the following words:

We have a great heart. And the people in China have a great heart, too. So, we have something in common. At the Mayor’s Forum in Ningbo in China, there are three representatives of Slovenian cities present: the Mayor of the city of Kočevlje, the Deputy Mayor of the city of Kranj, and, of course, Ljubljana.

We are all very dedicated to the cooperation with China and its people. Whatever we do in the end, it’s always about the people. By the law in Slovenia, the municipalities cannot directly cooperate with businesses in China. Let’s live together and respect all the differences. It means that everybody is welcome to Ljubljana. But what they have to have is a good energy to do something for themselves and for the people who are living in Ljubljana, and for the people who are coming to Ljubljana.

And I feel a lot of good energy here, so I know that we will do some great things in the future. Slovenia is the only country that has love in the name of the country. The name of our capital, Ljubljana, comes from the word which means beloved. So, the city of love, the capital of love, and the country of love.

You can watch here the interview for CGTN with the Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, Dejan Črnek.

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This audio recording was generated using AI technology. While every effort has been made to ensure clarity and accuracy, please note that the pronunciation of non-English words—particularly Chinese—may not always be correct. We appreciate your understanding and acknowledge that any mispronunciations are unintentional. Internationalis Media is not responsible for potential inaccuracies in AI-generated speech.