The forthcoming meeting between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the October 20-21 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be very important, spokesperson of China Secretariat for APEC 2001 Zhang Qiyue said in Shanghai on Thursday.

The two leaders have many issues to talk about but will mainly dwell on Sino-US relations and issues of common concern during their meeting, the first between the two, said Zhang at a press conference Thursday morning.

Zhang said, President Bush has attached importance to his meeting with Jiang and looks forward to the meeting.

(Xinhua News Agency 10/18/2001)