French President Hollande to visit China next week

Paris: French President Francois Hollande will make a state visit to China on November 2-3 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, with climate change high on the agenda, Hollande's office has announced.

The French leader will also visit South Korea on a visit marking the 130th anniversary of French-Korean diplomatic ties, his office announced yesterday.

Hollande announced last month that he planned to visit China in order to launch a bilateral appeal "that we work to make a success of the climate conference," to be held from November 30-December 11 in Paris.

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will preside over the UN talks tasked with sealing a global climate pact.

The overarching goal is to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

Hollande has stressed the importance of the role of China, which is the most populous nation on Earth and the most polluting.