Foreign and Military Affairs

Chinese premier arrives in Rome for official visit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-07 10:05

ROME - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Rome on Wednesday night to pay a two-day official visit to Italy.

Special Coverage: Wen visits four nations, attends ASEM
Related readings: Wen takes detour to Germany Wen urges EU to recognize China's market economy status Wen visits four nations, attends 8th ASEM Advance Asia-Europe ties: Wen

Italy is the third leg of Wen's four-nation tour, which has already taken him to Greece and Belgium. He will also visit Turkey.

According to sources with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, during his stay in Italy, Wen will hold talks with Italian leaders, and attend events celebrating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Italy and the opening ceremony of Chinese Culture Year.

The Chinese Culture Year will run from October this year to next September. China will hold a series of activities in more than 10 Italian cities, including Rome, Florence and Milan, to display its traditional Chinese culture and progresses in modern times.

Earlier on Wednesday in Brussels, the Chinese premier attended the China-EU High-Level Cultural Forum, the Sixth China-EU Business Summit, and the 13th China-EU Summit, and held talks with Belgian leaders.