Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu announces:

At the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem of Vietnam, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will head a delegation to attend the Ninth ASEM Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

This meeting will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam from May 25 to 26. With the theme of "strongly enhancing Asian-European partnership to face with world's financial-economic crisis and other global challenges", the meeting will focus on international financial crisis, response to global challenges, international and regional situation, dialogue among different cultures and civilizations, and future development of the ASEM among other issues.

Against the background of ongoing international financial crisis, China hopes that the meeting will materialize the consensus and achievement of the ASEM7 in Beijing last year and send a strong message to the world that Asia and Europe stand side by side to combat the crisis. Meanwhile, we expect the meeting to further enhance the mutual trust and cooperation between the two continents and boost the Asian-European partnership.