On July 5, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Rome, Italy for a state visit. He will attend the outreach session of the Group of Eight (G8) summit to be held in the central Italian city of L'aquila. On the sidelines of the outreach session, President Hu will attend a group meeting with leaders from India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico. He will also attend the summit of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), the special meeting on trade, the special meeting on food security and other activities.

At about 13:10, local time, President Hu's special plane arrived at the Fiumicino International Airport in Rome. At the airport, President Hu and his wife Liu Yongqing were warmly welcomed by Italian Minister of Justice Angelino Alfano.

In a statement released upon his arrival at the airport, Hu said both China and Italy are countries with a long history of civilization and the two peoples enjoy a long-standing friendship. In recent years, the all-round strategic partnership between China and Italy has witnessed continuous development as political mutual trust has become deeper and deeper, and cooperation and exchanges in various fields have expanded rapidly. "China attaches great importance on developing relations with Italy," Hu said, adding China is ready to join effort with Italy to bring in an even brighter future of bilateral relations.

Hu said he looked forward to exchanging views with Italian leaders on bilateral ties and other issues of common concern and engaging broadly with Italian people from all walks of life. "I believe that under joint effort of both sides, this visit will be a total success and help advance the all-round strategic partnership between China and Italy to a new stage," Hu said in the statement.

President Hu's entourage including Ling Jihua, Wang Huning and Dai Bingguo arrived by the same plane.

Chinese Ambassador to Italy Sun Yuxi and the staff of the embassy also greeted Hu and his delegation at the airport.

At the outreach session, the leaders from the G8 and major developing countries are expected to discuss the issues that the international community is most concerned about inlcuding tackling the global financial crisis and promoting the world economic recovery, climate change, energy security, food security, international trade and development.

This is the sixth time for President Hu to attend the G8 outreach session since G8 Evian Summit 2003, G8 Gleneagles Summit 2005, G8 Saint Petersburg Summit 2006, G8 Heiligendamm Summit 2007 and G8 Toyako Summit 2008.

Following the meetings, President Hu will also pay a state visit to Portugal.