President of the Government begins an official trip to Beijing, Singapore, Sanya and Boao

China positioned itself as the second-largest economy in the world during 2010, overtaking Japan. Although trade relations between China and Spain are growing, the Government aims to increase that growth. Hence the importance of this visit by the President of the Government.
Spanish exports to China have quadrupled since 1995 but Spanish imports from China have multiplied eleven-fold in the same period, meaning that China represents one third of Spain's foreign trade deficit.
As a holder of debt, China's position has been growing stronger. The Government believes that this reflects the confidence and interest held by the Asian giant in the Spanish economy. There are 600 Spanish companies operating in China, although Chinese investment in Spain is relatively low given its size.
The President of the Government's visit will therefore be focused on economic issues: the promotion of Spanish exports to China and the attraction of Chinese investment to Spain.
However, the trip will also have significant cultural importance, focused on assessing the development of the Spanish language on a continent with 20,000 students of Spanish.
The importance of Spanish as a language will be the subject of the conference, entitled "The value of Spanish", that the President of the Government will give at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Beijing, which was officially opened in 2006.

On 13 and 14 April, the President of the Government will be in Singapore on his first official visit to the country. Singapore is an important financial hub and Spain's objective is to present the Spanish economy and attract investment.
Singapore recorded growth of 14.5% in 2010, the second-largest growth in the world after Qatar. Furthermore, it is the third country in the world in terms of per capita income.
Singapore is closely linked to international trade. The country's open rate stands at 360%, meaning that the visit by the President of the Government represents a good opportunity to promote trade relations between Singapore and Spain.

On 14 April, the President of the Government will travel to the island province of Hainan in the People's Republic of China, where he will stay until he returns to Spain on Saturday, 16 April.
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will attend the Boao Forum in the city of Boao, being the only European leader to do so.
The initiative to create this Forum arose in 1998 when the Presidents of the Philippines, Australia and Japan decided that Asia should have a forum similar to the Davos Forum in Switzerland. It was formally set up in 2001 and will therefore be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.