Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd R, front) and his wife Peng Liyuan (1st R, front) are received by Peruvian Second Vice President Mercedes Araoz (2nd L) at the airport in Lima, Peru, Nov. 18, 2016. Xi arrived in Peru Friday to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting and pay his first state visit to Peru. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Peru Friday to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting and pay his first state visit to the Latin American country.[Special coverage]
Prior to the trip, Xi had visited neighboring Ecuador. The APEC meeting is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Peru's capital Lima under the theme of "Quality Growth and Human Development."
"My visit aims to strengthen friendship, expand common grounds, deepen cooperation and promote development," Xi said while delivering a written speech upon arrival at the airport in Lima.
"China supports Peru in hosting the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, and I'm looking forward to meeting with Peruvian leaders to have in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and on major international, regional issues of common concern," he said.
NEW MOVES EXPECTED ON FTAAP
In Lima, Xi will deliver a keynote speech at the APEC CEO Summit, hold dialogue with representatives of the APEC Business Advisory Council and meet leaders of some other APEC member economies.
This year's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting comes as the global economy is still struggling to recover, with flagging trade and investment, rising protectionism and fragmented trade rules.
China, as the world's second largest economy, has called for safeguarding the global free trade system and opposing protectionism in any form.
It also expects the APEC members to reach new consensus and take new action on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) at the Lima meeting. The FTAAP process was launched at the 2014 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Beijing and a roadmap was endorsed. A "collective strategic study" on the FTAAP was conducted subsequently, as agreed by the APEC members, and the result should be reported to the economic leaders by the end of 2016.
"China hopes that the Lima meeting can promote openness and inclusiveness, deepen practical cooperation and continue to implement the outcomes of the Beijing meeting," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong has told reporters.
Raul Salazar, APEC affairs director at the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, believes the FTAAP is necessary.
"This step taken in Beijing ... has forced all the members to face the reality that this is necessary for a number of reasons. Peru holds the position that we need an Asia-Pacific free trade area. It would allow for APEC's work to be deepened and would see free trade agreements proliferate," he said.
Founded in 1989, APEC, grouping 21 members, now accounts for 39 percent of the global population, 60 percent of the global economy and 46 percent of the global trade.
Peru previously hosted the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in 2008. China, which greets its 25th anniversary of joining the influential forum this year, had also hosted the meeting twice -- in 2001 in Shanghai, and in 2014 in Beijing.
MUTUAL VISIT IN TWO MONTHS
After attending the APEC meeting, Xi will pay his first state visit to Peru, only about two months after his Peruvian counterpart, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, -- who was sworn in on July 28 -- made his first foreign visit to China.
Xi will hold talks with Kuczynski, meet President of Peruvian Congress Luz Salgado and give a speech at the Congress. The two heads of state are also scheduled to attend the closing ceremony of the China-Latin America and Caribbean 2016 Year of Culture Exchange.
