PM Lee on six—day official visit to China

SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make an official visit to China on Sunday. The six—day visit till September 7 is at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao.

Besides Beijing, Mr Lee will also visit Sichuan Province and Tianjin Municipality.

In Beijing, he will meet President Hu Jintao, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

Mr Lee will also be hosted to separate dinners by Premier Wen and Vice President Xi.

Mr Lee and Mr Wen will witness the signing of two agreements related to bilateral cooperation in the Jilin Food Zone project. Mr Lee will also deliver a speech at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China.

In Sichuan, Mr Lee will meet with and be hosted to a dinner by Sichuan Provincial Party Secretary Liu Qibao. He will be briefed on the Singapore—Sichuan Hi—Tech Innovation Park, which is a private sector—led project supported by the two governments.

In addition, Mr Lee will officiate at the opening of the Raffles City Mall and visit Yingxiu Town, the epicentre of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which has now been successfully reconstructed.

In Tianjin, Mr Lee will meet with and be hosted to dinner by Tianjin Municipality Party Secretary Zhang Gaoli.

He will visit the Tianjin Eco—city (TEC) to take stock of its progress. The TEC is the second government—to—government project between Singapore and the People’s Republic of China.

Mr Lee will be accompanied by Mrs Lee, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam, Acting Minister for Manpower and Senior Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan—Jin, Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Senior Minister of State for National Development Lee Yi Shyan and other senior officials.

He will also be accompanied by a business delegation for his visits to Sichuan and Tianjin.

The business mission is led by International Enterprise Singapore.

Mr Lee will depart Beijing on September 7 to attend the 2012 APEC Summit in Vladivostok, Russia.

During his absence, Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs will be the Acting Prime Minister for the period September 2 to 9.

—CNA/ac