Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien arrived in Beijing by a special plane Saturday afternoon, kicking off a 9-day official visit at the invitation of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.
This is Chretien's fourth visit to China since he became prime minister. His entourage for the current visit includes more than 600 people, the largest group visiting a foreign country in Canada 's diplomatic history.
Mrs. Aline Chretien, Minister Pierre Pettigrew of International Trade, Secretary of State Rey Pagtakhan for Asia-Pacific, and other cabinet or local officials are among the entourage.
Most members of the delegation are people from the business and industrial circles, and are representing the cooperative sectors including agriculture, education, energy, environment technologies, financial services, mining and minerals, as well as information and communications technologies.
Apart from Beijing, Prime Minister Chretien and his party will also tour Xi'an, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
(Xinhua 02/10/2001)
