Christopher Luxon has been warmly welcomed by China’s President in Lima on the sidelines of the APEC Summit.
It is the first time Xi Jinping and Luxon have met, with the meeting scheduled for 30 minutes.
In his opening remarks, President Xi acknowledged the sound and steady growth between China and New Zealand and commended Luxon for his efforts building the relationship since he took office a year ago.
He also said China was ready to work together with New Zealand to create more firsts.
NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon meets with China’s President, Xi Jinping in Lima.
Photo: Pool / Chris Skelton
Christopher Luxon arrived in Peru for APEC overnight.
On arrival, Luxon headed straight to a private catch-up with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
The leaders of APEC’s 21 economies from the Asia-Pacific region are meeting just a week after Donald Trump was declared the US president-elect.
While it is Joe Biden in town representing the US, Trump’s promised tariffs will feature heavily in leader to leader conversations this weekend, including between Luxon and China’s Xi Jinping.
Xi is under very tight security in Lima, prompting him to send his officials to a grand port opening two hours north while he held a virtual ribbon cutting.
Luxon is expected to speak to media at 12.20pm (NZT).
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