Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to visit Canada Sept. 21-24

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will travel to Ottawa and Montreal for an official visit Sept. 21 to 24, the Prime Minister's Office announced Wednesday.

A statement from the PMO said Li will meet in Ottawa with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials "to continue to deepen a strong, more stable relationship between Canada and China." The PMO said the two leaders would discuss trade and investment, environmental co-operation, legal and judicial collaboration, cultural exchanges and people to people ties.

The visit follows Trudeau's own official visit to China that concluded earlier this month. He visited Beijing and Shanghai ahead of the G20 heads of government meeting held in Hangzhou, China.

Following a meeting with Li on Aug. 31 in Beijing, Trudeau announced China had agreed to put off implementing new rules governing Canadian canola shipments that threatened billions of dollars in exports to the country.

• Canada, China agree to extension in canola dispute

China was set to impose new rules Sept. 1 on the level of "dockage" foreign material such as weeds, other crops and detritus deemed acceptable in imported canola shipments. Following Trudeau's announcement, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said the two sides would continue negotiations in the hope of coming to a long-term solution around canola.

Li will also travel to Montreal to meet with political and business leaders and members of the Chinese-Canadian community, the PMO said in the release.

China is Canada's second-largest single-country trading partner and two-way merchandise trade between the two countries reached nearly $85.8 billion in 2015, up 10.1 per cent over 2014.