CHINA: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Beijing

Record ID: 565465

  • Title: CHINA: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Beijing
  • Date: 19th May 2014
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (MAY 19, 2014) (AGENCY POOL) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER LAURENT FABIUS WALKING UP TO LI AND SHAKING HIS HAND HANDS SHAKING, LI AND FABIUS SMILING LI AND FABIUS WALKING AWAY MEETING IN PROGRESS LI SPEAKING FABIUS LISTENING LI AND FABIUS SITTING FABIUS SPEAKING LI LISTENING MEETING IN PROGRESS PEOPLE STANDING AND WALKING OUTSIDE MEETING ROOM
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Reuters ID: LVAUL8GU2JBG2XZSONIR6G3170T
  • Story Text: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Beijing on Monday (May 19).
    The two shook hands in a courtyard in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, before sitting down for talks.
    The meeting took place a day ahead of a two-day summit aimed at strengthening regional cooperation.
    The Fourth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), to be held in Shanghai on Tuesday and Wednesday, will involve 11 heads of state, one government head and 10 chiefs of international organisations, the official Xinhua news agency said.
    Ban already met with President Xi Jinping in Shanghai earlier on Monday.
    Li also met with French foreign minister Laurent Fabius on Monday in the state guesthouse, where they held talks.
    Fabius' eighth visit to China since taking up his position in 2012 also saw him meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday.
    The French foreign minister has made enhancing economic ties with China one of his priorities and was handed in April the task of reducing the trade deficit, developing external business and enhancing tourism revenue as part of an expanded portfolio. He has already cut visa approval times for Chinese citizens to 48 hours, which has resulted in a 40 percent rise year on year in applications.
    Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Paris in March to mark the 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
    Recognition of the People's Republic of China by France in 1964, earlier than many Western countries, forms part of France's claim to a special relationship.
    France nevertheless trails far behind Germany on the trade front, accounting for just 1.2 percent of Chinese imports compared with 4.8 percent.
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