French FM to Visit Russia, China, S. Korea Next Week

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 04, 2003

French FM to Visit Russia, China, S. Korea Next Week

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin will visit Russia, China and South Korea next week, his ministry announced on Friday.

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French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin will visit Russia, China and South Korea next week, his ministry announced on Friday.

De Villepin will leave Paris on Tuesday for Moscow where he will meet his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov on "major current issues," said the French Foreign Ministry in a statement.

He will arrive in Beijing on Jan. 9 for a two-day official visit and meet with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. He will also hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan.

France attaches importance to the "serious situation in Iraq and in the north of the Korean peninsula," said the statement.

"Amid this particularly delicate conjuncture, we give particular attention to our consultation with China, a major partner," it said.

"This consultation is in the framework of the global partnership between our two countries, which we wish to reinforce. This is particularly important at the moment when France holds the rotating presidency of the Great Eight (G-8) and of the United Nations Security Council," said the statement.

The French foreign minister will visit Shanghai on Jan. 10 where he will make a speech on European-Asian relations at Fudan university. He will also meet with Shanghai Mayor Chen Liangyu, according to the statement.

The visit of de Villepin in China, his first since he took office in May, is also seen as preparation for the visit of French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to China in spring.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji invited Raffarin to visit China when he visited Paris in September.

In Seoul, de Villepin will meet with South Korean President KimDae-Jung and President-elect Roh Moo-Hyun who will take office in February. He will also have a working meeting with his counterpart Choi Sung-Hong.

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