PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be undertaking an official visit to China from Oct 31 to Nov 6 at the invitation of the Premier of the State Council of China, Li Keqiang.

The upcoming trip will be the third official visit by Najib to China since 2009.

He is scheduled to visit Beijing, Tianjin, Gu’an and Zhangjiakou during his trip.

Najib will be accompanied by his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and other cabinet ministers, chief ministers, as well as senior government officials from relevant ministries and agencies.

His itinerary in Beijing includes an official welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, a bilateral meeting with Li, and a dinner on Nov 1.

Najib will call on Chinese president Xi Jinping on Nov 3, followed by a dinner hosted by Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at the Diaoyutai State Guest House.

He will also receive courtesy calls from the National People’s Congress of China chairman Zhang Dejiang, and other prominent provincial leaders.

Issues expected to be discussed during the visit include bilateral cooperation in the fields of education, defence, agriculture, trade and investment, tourism and culture, science and technology, and people-to-people contacts.

Several government-to-government memoranda of understanding and documents are set to be signed or exchanged, and will be witnessed by Najib and Li.

Besides the bilateral meeting, Najib is scheduled to meet with prominent Malaysian and Chinese business leaders, and deliver an address at the Malaysia-China Business Forum Luncheon.

He will also witness the exchange of several business-to-business memoranda and agreements between Malaysian and Chinese enterprises.

During the visit, Najib will be meeting with the Malaysian community and students in China.

Malaysia and China continue to enjoy close and cordial bilateral relations and

cooperation in key areas such as politics, economy and trade, and defence and security

under the Strategic Comprehensive Partnership.

China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner since 2009, and Malaysia is China’s eighth largest trading partner worldwide, and the largest trading partner, the largest source of imports and the second largest export destination among Asean countries.

Trade with China accounted for 15.8 per cent of Malaysia’s total trade in 2015, amounting to US$59.12 billion (RM230.89 billion).

For the period of January to August, total trade with China increased by 1.4 per cent to US$36.59 billion (RM149.33 billion) as compared to the same period in 2015.

Total exports decreased by 9.6 per cent to US$14.45 billion (RM58.93 billion), while total imports grew 10 per cent to US$22.15 billion (RM90.40 billion) for the same period.