MELBOURNE: China’s Premier Li Qiang will visit Australia later this week, officials said Tuesday, in a further indication that strained bilateral relations are improving.
Li’s visit will extend from Saturday to Tuesday, and will be the first by a Chinese premier to Australia since 2017, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Albanese and Li will hold an annual leaders’ meeting at Parliament House in the Australian capital Canberra during the visit, an Australian government statement said.
Li, the second most powerful official in China’s leadership, will also visit the Australian cities of Adelaide and Perth.
Li’s visit follows Albanese’s visit to Beijing in November last year, where leaders agreed to resume key bilateral dialogues and to further several areas of cooperation.
China imposed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers that cost Australian exporters up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year after Australia’s previous government demanded an international inquiry into the causes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of those barriers have been removed since Albanese’s government was elected in 2022.
“Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia is an important opportunity to engage directly on key issues for both our nations,” Albanese said in a statement.
“Australia continues to pursue a stable and direct relationship with China, with dialogue at its core,” Albanese added.
Chinese premier Li Qiang to visit Australia on Saturday
https://arab.news/8bq7c
Chinese premier Li Qiang to visit Australia on Saturday
- Li Qiang’s visit will extend from Saturday to Tuesday, and will be the first by a Chinese premier to Australia since 2017
- Li, the second most powerful official in China’s leadership, will also visit the Australian cities of Adelaide and Perth
Venezuela aims to boost oil output but sanctions stand in the way, VP says
- Sanchez called the recent capture of Nicolas Maduro a “dark day” for the country
DUBAI: Venezuela’s Vice President for Economy Calixto Ortega Sanchez said on Wednesday that his country needed vast foreign investment and sanctions relief to tap its huge oil reserves and restart its ailing economy.
“We know that the reference for Venezuela is that (it is) the country with the biggest oil reserves, and we want to stop being known for this, and we want to be known as one of the countries with the highest production levels,” Sanchez said.
Responding to questions by American journalist Tucker Carlson, Sanchez called the recent capture of Nicolas Maduro a “dark day” for the country but said Venezuela was working to reestablish a relationship with the US, which he described as a “natural partner” for the country.
“The Venezuelan people and authorities have shown that they are ready to peacefully move forward and to build opportunities,” he said during a session at the World Government Summit.
Sanchez, who headed Venezuela’s central bank, said the most pertinent issue facing his country is continued US sanctions.
Despite failing to result in regime change, the sanctions had effectively stifled the economy from growing, he added.
He said the Venezuelan government was now working to reform its laws to allow foreign investment and hoped the US would ease sanctions to aid their work.
“The first decisions that interim President Rodriguez took was to go to the National Assembly and ask for reform to the hydrocarbon law … this law will allow international investors to go to Venezuela with favorable conditions, with legal assurance of their investments,” he added.
“The economy is ready for investment. The economy is ready for the private sector; it is ready to build up a better future for the Venezuelan people.”
Sanchez played down inferences by Carlson that his government had been taken over, insisting that the regime still held authority in the country. He said the country had set up two funds to receive money from oil production that would fund better welfare and social conditions for Venezuelans.
“Allow us to have access to our own assets … we don’t have access to our own money,” he added.
“If you allow us to function like a regular country, Venezuela will show extraordinary improvement and growth.”
