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BEIJING, March 31, 2009 (AFP) - China will send a trade mission to the United States in April, an official said Tuesday, the latest in a series of trips that have led to billions of dollars in contracts.
"A Chinese trade and investment delegation is planning to visit the United States in late April," said a commerce ministry spokesman, who declined to be named or to give further details.
But the 21st Century Business Herald said it would visit Washington, Chicago, San Francisco and other cities, focusing on purchases of aviation, telecommunications and agricultural products like soybeans and cotton.
The visit will follow the first meeting between US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao this week at the Group of 20 summit in London this week, the newspaper said.
The commerce ministry was currently signing up companies to join the mission, including enterprises hoping to invest in the troubled US economy, it said.
According to the paper, the mission's aim is to help redress the trade imbalance between the two countries.
China's trade surplus with the United States grew to 18.7 billion dollars in the first two months of 2009.
The trade surplus, which ballooned to 266 billion dollars in 2008, according to US figures, has been a bone of contention for years.
Over the past three years, Chinese trade missions to the United States have resulted in purchases totalling 62.4 billion dollars, the paper said.
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