Chinese President Jiang Zemin extended his warm welcome to the leaders of APEC member economies upon their arrival at the International Convention Center (ICC) of Shanghai Saturday afternoon.

The economic leaders, arriving at the ICC in the order according to the established APEC practice, will soon attend a meeting chaired by Jiang Zemin, at which the schedule of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting was briefed.

Later on, President Jiang presided over a dialogue between economic leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) members.

Jiang delivered a speech at the dialogue, expressing his welcome to the ABAC members to attend the meeting in Shanghai and thanked them for the work of the council over the past year.

Jiang said that the ABAC is an important channel for the industrial and commercial sectors to participate in the process of the APEC, ensuring the leaders to keep closer contact with the industrial and commercial sectors. To strengthen the role of the council is an important means to ensure the APEC to keep pace with the times and maintain its vitality, he said.

The annual dialogue is a rare opportunity for the leaders and the members of the council to talk face to face and thus the two sides could discuss the prospects of the cooperation and development of the APEC from different angles of view, Jiang said.

(China Daily 10/20/2001)