Party leader arrives in Beijing for China visit On April 7, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong arrived in Beijing, beginning his official four-day visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping.  Distinguished guests welcoming Party chief Trong at the Beijing International Airport included Wang Jiarui, member of the Chinese Party Central Committee and Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Hong Xiaoyong, and Vietnam Ambassador to China Nguyen Van Tho, among others.  An official welcome ceremony for Trong and his delegation is to take place at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing later the same day. Official statistics show that the combined imports and exports of Vietnam with China jumped 17% on-year in 2014 to nearly US$59 billion. Vietnam’s exports to its northern neighbour rose 12.6% to US$14.91 billion, while its imports from China shot up 18.8% to US$43.87 billion. Both nations has set a US$100 billion bilateral trade target by 2017 Over recent years, bilateral cooperation has progressed across a variety of fields- defence-security, education, culture, sports, health care, science-technology and cross-cultural exchanges. Some photos taken at the welcoming ceremony for Party leader Trong:               VOV