Chinese President Xi arrives in Paris for climate change conference

World Today

FRANCE-CHINA-CLIMATE-WARMING-COP21China’s President Xi Jinping (center L) and his wife Peng Liyuan (center R) arrive at Orly airport, outside Paris, on November 29, 2015, for the start of the COP21 UN Conference on climate change summit. The 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) due to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December will proceed as planned, despite the terrorist attacks of 13 November. US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as leaders from India, South Africa and China are among the leaders planning to come. The aim is to reach an international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and curtail climate change. AFP PHOTO / POOL/ YOAN VALAT

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paris on Sunday to attend the opening ceremony of an international conference on climate change.

Xi, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan and other senior officials, arrived in the French capital as guest of French President Francois Hollande and Laurent Fabius, France’s foreign minister and chair of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Chinese president will deliver a speech at the conference on Monday, raising China’s proposals on countering climate change before leaving for state visits to Zimbabwe and South Africa and a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg.

During his two-day stay in Paris, Xi is also expected to meet other heads of state including Hollande and U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the conference, discussing the climate issue and bilateral relations.

It will be the first time for China’s top leader to be present at the UN climate change conference.

Story from Xinhua.

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