BEIJING - At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, leaders of 18 countries will attend the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) which runs from Nov 5 to 10 in Shanghai, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced Monday.

Spokesperson Lu Kang said the leaders include Czech President Milos Zeman, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Dominican President Danilo Medina, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, El Salvador's President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, Swiss President Alain Berset, the Cook Islands' Prime Minister Henry Puna, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.