Slovak president says bilateral ties with China at "highest level in history"

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini has said that bilateral relations with China have reached their "highest level in history", following a landmark state visit to China from Monday to Wednesday.

The trips marks Pellegrini's first state visit to China as the president of Slovakia.

During the visit, Pellegrini held high-level talks with Chinese leaders, and also toured cutting-edge technological sites in Beijing, including a robot mall and the headquarters of Chinese tech giant Baidu.

In an interview with China Media Group on Wednesday, Pellegrini reflected on the profound significance of the trip and the remarkable transformations he has witnessed in the country.

"It's for me, but also for Slovakia, [a] historical visit, because it is, after 23 years, again, a visit of a [Slovak] president, a state visit to China. So it is very important for the relationships between Slovakia and China. I had the chance to visit China in 2015, 2017, once as a speaker of the parliament, once as a deputy prime minister. So I can really compare, and I see the big changes which China achieved in the last decade and how complete other country I'm now visiting than it was probably 10 years ago. And I'm really impressed," said Pellegrini.

The president also expressed deep appreciation for the warm reception and the substantive discussions held during the trip.

"And of course, this visit on the highest level, and the great meeting with Mr. President (Xi Jinping), and the topics which we were discussing, I think they prove that the relationships now between China and Slovakia are now on the highest level in our history. And I'm very happy for that, and I'm very thankful for that," said Pellegrini.

The U.S. dollar advanced in late trading on Friday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, gained 0.05 percent to 99.917 at 15:00. (1900 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro lost to 1.1531 dollars from 1.1535 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was up to 1.3482 dollars from 1.3476 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 158.90 Japanese yen, lower than 158.93 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.8082 Swiss francs from 0.8040 Swiss francs, and it added to 1.4019 Canadian dollars from 1.3996 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar advanced to 9.5193 Swedish kronor from 9.5189 Swedish kronor.