President Gul to pay official visit to China

President Abdullah Gül next week will pay a weeklong official visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, the Presidential Press Office announced yesterday. A large delegation including State Minister for the Economy and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan and Interior Minister Besir Atalay as well as bureaucrats and businesspeople will accompany Gul during the visit, which will begin on Tuesday in Beijing. Gul will seek to diversify fields of bilateral cooperation between Turkey and China while also exchanging views on regional and international affairs during his meeting with Hu, the office said. There are plans to hold a Turkey-China business forum and to sign bilateral agreements during the visit, it added. Gul's visit will also take him to Xi'an, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Urumchi.