Briefly

Premier to host economic roundtable

Premier Li Keqiang will hold the sixth "1+6" roundtable on Monday with the heads of major international economic organizations via video link, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday. The heads are David Malpass, president of the World Bank; Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organization; Guy Ryder, director general of the International Labour Organization; Mathias Cormann, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; and Klaas Knot, chair of the Financial Stability Board. They will exchange views on the world economic situation and global economic governance, and China's commitment to promoting high-quality development with reform and opening-up as the driving force, Wang said.

Talks focus on Latin America, Caribbean

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon will co-chair the third Ministerial Meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday. The meeting, which will be held via video link on Friday, will be the first multilateral diplomatic activity between China and Latin American and Caribbean states since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Wang said.

China pushing for Omicron vaccine

China is rapidly advancing development of COVID-19 vaccines targeting the Omicron variant, a health official told China Central Television on Thursday. Zheng Zhongwei, a National Health Commission official who heads China's COVID-19 vaccine development task force, said preliminary analysis suggests the new strain is more transmissible than the Delta variant, but it is too early to determine whether it would diminish the efficacy of existing vaccines. Zheng said domestic vaccines have demonstrated efficacy against all major variants circulating in different regions. As a precautionary measure, domestic vaccine developers have begun research into doses tailored to tackle various new strains.

China Daily - Xinhua