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CHINA

Vice-Premier to attend French energy summit

Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing, special representative of President Xi Jinping, will travel to France to attend the second Nuclear Energy Summit from Monday to Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun has said. The summit, the highest-level multilateral meeting devoted to nuclear energy development, will focus on issues, including development strategies, financing models and innovation pathways. Leaders attending the event are expected to deliver keynote speeches and the summit will issue a joint declaration, Guo said on Monday. China looks forward to strengthening communication with all parties, promoting a more just and reasonable global governance system for nuclear energy, as well as more inclusive development and more open and orderly cooperation in the sector, he added.

GERMANY

Greens lead Merz's party in state polls

Germany's environmental Greens took a narrow lead over Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives in a state election in the southwestern region of Baden-Wuerttemberg on Sunday, early projections showed, leaving the two parties poised to continue their long-running coalition. The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has made strong gains in recent years, was in third place, confirming its position as Germany's main opposition party, even outside its heartland in the former communist eastern states. Initially trailing in the race, the Greens caught up with Merz's Christian Democrats, as the ballot approached, helped by the popularity of their lead candidate Cem Ozdemir, a moderate former agriculture minister.

China Daily - Agencies