The second annual China-Canada Foreign Ministers Dialogue is to open in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, according to the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa Tuesday.
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday that she will co-chair the dialogue with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to explore ways to further consolidate Canada-China ties.
"Canada will continue to work with China to deepen and broaden our relationship," said the Canadian minister in a statement before heading to Beijing.
Chinese Ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye said China and Canada have maintained close high-level exchanges, and the mutual understanding and trust have constantly increased since Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exchanged visits last year, forging a new "Golden Era" for the bilateral relations. Before it, Chinese President Xi Jinping met Trudeau several times on the margin of international conferences.
Canadian Governor General David Johnston just concluded his visit to China last month, and both sides reached important consensus on many fields, including economic and trade cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, etc.
According to the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Canada's bilateral trade with China reached a value of 85 billion Canadian dollars (64 billion U.S. dollar) in 2016, and Canada's two-way foreign direct investment with China stood at almost 34.7 billion Canadian dollars (27 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2016.
China is Canada's fastest-growing tourist market and the biggest source of overseas students. The average annual growth rate of Chinese tourists to Canada has remained around 20 percent, and more than 620,000 Chinese tourists visited Canada last year.
Chinese students are the largest group of international students on Canadian campus, totaling about 180,000 this year.
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