Facts and figures about Hu's G20 tour

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-02 17:04

BEIJING -- Chinese President Hu Jintao is in London for the Group of 20 (G20) summit, ahead of which he successively met with his US, British, Russian and French counterparts. The following are some facts and figures about his tour.

-- The G20 was initiated at a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Washington, D.C., in September 1999 when the Asian financial crisis had wakened the world's economic powers to the need of incorporating key industrial and emerging market countries into the global economic and financial policy making.

-- The G20 has a membership comprising 19 countries and a regional bloc, including the G7 nations -- the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada -- and Russia, China, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the European Union.

-- The G20 economies account for more than 80 percent of the global gross national product, about 80 percent of world trade and about two thirds of the world population.

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-- The objective of the London Summit is to bring the world's biggest economies together to help restore global economic growth through enhanced international coordination.

-- Chinese president Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama held their first meeting in London Wednesday on the sidelines of the G20 summit since Obama took office in January this year.

-- China and the United State issued a joint communique On December 16, 1978, and formally established diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level on January 1, 1979.

-- The three Sino-US joint communiques, namely, the Shanghai Communique, the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, and the Sino-US Joint Communique on the US arms sales to Taiwan, have set up guiding principles for the development of Sino-US relations.

-- Hu and Obama agreed to work together to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship in the 21st century during their meeting in London on Wednesday.

-- China and Britain established diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level in 1972.

-- The smooth transfer of government in Hong Kong between China and Britain July 1997 opened a new chapter in the annals Sino-British relations. The two countries issued a joint statement in October 1998, officially announcing the establishment of a comprehensive China-UK partnership.

-- This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, and it is also the "Year of Russian Language" in China. Russia will launch the "Year of Chinese Language" in 2010.

-- China-Russia relations have seen stable and healthy development after the two sides established a strategic partnership of cooperation in 1996. The final settlement of the border issue in 2005 cleared away political obstacles to the sound development of bilateral ties.

-- This year marks the 45th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations.

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