From the SMHMining boom sends Hu to PerthCHINESE President Hu...

From the SMH

Mining boom sends Hu to Perth

CHINESE President Hu Jintao will visit Western Australia tomorrow ahead of this week's APEC leaders summit in Sydney.

The 24-hour visit by the President of the world's most populous nation is a first for WA.

Premier Alan Carpenter has said the visit highlighted the high value placed on the economic and cultural relationship between WA and China.

Two-way trade between WA and China was worth more than $15.3 billion a year and exports from WA to China were worth more $13.8 billion, he said last week.

President Hu will attend a dinner with key WA business, mining and government representatives in Perth tomorrow.

He is also expected to tour resource-based sites.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao visited WA last year, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan visited the state earlier this year and Chairman Wu Bangguo came to WA in 2005.