World leaders from 20 industrial and emerging-market nations are arriving in the southern Chinese city of Hangzhou for a summit starting Sunday.
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On Friday, the prime minister will hold an event at a high school with former NBA basketball star Yao Ming, meet with executives of Fosun Group and Cirque du Soleil and participate in a roundtable with women entrepreneurs.
Canada said it plans to apply to join a controversial new global infrastructure bank led by China in hopes of providing a boost to economic growth both at home and around the world.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Canada and China would soon launch a feasibility study on an eventual free trade deal, although Ottawa’s envoy to Beijing, Guy Saint-Jacques, denied the two sides had agreed to start formal talks.
“I remind everyone that as a country that has seen first-hand the benefits of free expression and good governance, Canada encourages China to do more to promote and protect human rights”, Trudeau said.
Trudeau’s in China to strengthen Canada’s business and cultural ties with the world’s second-largest economy and an expanding middle class. The first Chinese yuan clearing center in North America was launched in Toronto previous year. Every year, Canada exports about four million tons of canola seeds to China, which is 40% of Canada’s annual canola seed exports.
After meeting with Li in Beijing on Wednesday, Trudeau announced Canada’s intention to apply to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The Canadian Pavilion joins 18 other pavilions now on Tmall Global, including those for Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the USA, where Chinese consumers gain access to products otherwise unavailable from those countries via e-commerce.
Chinese tourist travel to Canada rose 24 per cent in the first six months of this year, Saint-Jacques said.
The deals signed on Thursday involve companies in sectors from seafood to clean technologies, Freeland added.
Two-way merchandise trade between Canada and China amounted to almost $85.8 billion in 2015.
Boxing Day came early for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as he made his Marvel comics debut in a variant cover for the latest issue of Civil War II.
In 2015, bilateral trade with China increased 10.1 per cent over 2014.
On Thursday, Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire, explored the Great Wall with their daughter Ella-Grace.
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Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service offers 15 points of service in China, staffed by a team of over 100 trade commissioners. The famous tourist destination set the backdrop for Trudeau’s announcement that the two countries would collaborate on the development of China’s national parks.
