Chinese president attends G20 summit in St. Petersburg

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended on Thursday the eighth summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies.

During the two-day conference, Xi is expected to present China's view and policies on the world economy and discuss with other participants ways to achieve a steady global recovery and a strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

This is the first time for Xi to attend a G20 summit. On the sidelines, he was also scheduled to hold a series of bilateral meetings.

The St. Petersburg summit seeks to coordinate policies of G20 members to achieve global economic stability and sustainable growth, strengthen financial regulation and improve the international financial architecture, according to Russian organizers.

Participants are also expected to discuss such topics as the world economic and financial situation, investment, trade, development and reforms of international monetary and financial systems.

Prior to the summit, leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, five emerging economies collectively known as BRICS, held an informal meeting to coordinate their stances at the summit.

The Chinese president said in an interview before the G20 summit that China supports the St. Petersburg summit to focus on growth and employment to promote even closer partnership among G20 members, strengthen their macro-economic policy coordination and jointly usher in a brighter future for the world economy.

The G20 should adopt responsible macro-economic policies, uphold and promote greater openness in the world economy, work to improve global economic governance, and strive to be a development partner for developing countries, he said.

The G20 groups Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Britain, the United States as well as the European Union.