Special: President Hu Attends Financial Summit, APEC Meeting, Visits Four Nations 

    LIMA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian newspapers Wednesday hailed the upcoming official visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao, who was due to arrive in Lima later in the day as the first Chinese president to visit the Latin American country.

    National daily La Republica ran a front-page picture of a smiling Hu waving to a crowd, with two huge red Chinese characters "Huan Ying" (welcome) on the top of page.

    The paper said the Peruvian government, headed by President Alan Garcia, was looking forward to Hu's visit, as China is a major trading partner and investment destination in the Asia-Pacific region for Peru.

    The El Peruano newspaper said in a report that the visit by Hu, along with those by Japanese and South Korean leaders who will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting in Lima at the weekend, will help strengthen Peru's relations with Asia.

    El Comercion also published a report saying Peru was looking forward to the Chinese president's visit.

    A total of 3,600 delegates, including 19 leaders and 55 ministers, from the APEC's 21 member economies are expected to attend the APEC Leaders' Week, which began in Lima Sunday.

    Established in 1989, APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, China's Hong Kong special administrative region, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.