BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- As the annual Group of 20 (G20) summit is only some half a month away, world media have been paying more attention to China's preparations for the summit and who will attend the gathering.
First, Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the summit, which will be held on Sept. 4-5 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
As regards the agenda of the summit, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said on Monday that the summit is purely about global economic governance, trade and investment and that thorny political issues had no place at the summit.
As for who will attend the G20 summit in Hangzhou, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said Russian President Vladimir Putin will again feature prominently alongside Xi in Hangzhou next month.
U.S. President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present, among others.
Reuters reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May had written to China's president and premier seeking to enhance trade and cooperation amid a dispute over London delaying a 24-billion-U.S.-dollar nuclear project.
Alok Sharma, parliamentary under-secretary of state in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said May looked forward to attending next month's G20 summit in China.
As part of China's preparations for the summit, all Hangzhou markets will stay open during the two-day G20 summit, South China Morning Post reported.
All medium- and large-sized supermarkets, agricultural product markets and wholesale food markets will stay open during the G20 summit, according to a statement issued by the city government on Tuesday.
If necessary, the markets will extend their business hours to meet consumers' shopping demands, the government added.
Hangzhou has been massively upgrading the city's infrastructure with such improvements as repaving roads and expanding its subway system for the G20 summit over the last couple of years. Security measures across the city have also been beefed up.
The G20 is an international forum for the world's 20 biggest economies. It groups Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, along with the European Union.
G20 summits have been held annually since 2011.
