On November 14, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Washington, the capital of the United States, for the G20 summit on financial markets and world economy scheduled on November 15.

At 15:40 local time, Hu’s special plane arrived at Andrews Air Base, where Hu and his wife Liu Yongqing were warmly greeted by senior officials from the U.S. Department of State.

The accompanying officials including Wang Qishan, Ling Jihua, Wang Huning and Dai Bingguo arrived by the same plane.

Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Zhou Wenzhong and the staff of the embassy also welcomed Hu and his entourage at the airport.

At the summit, the leaders will review progress being made to address the current financial crisis, advance a common understanding of its causes, and, in order to avoid a repetition, agree on a common set of principles for reform of the regulatory and institutional regimes for the world's financial sectors.

The members of the G20 include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

Besides the leaders from the members of the G20, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the president of the World Bank, the secretary-general of the United Nations and the chairman of the Financial Stability Forum have also been invited to the Washington summit.

Washington is the first leg of President Hu's five-nation trip. He will later pay state visits to Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru and Greece. During his stay in Peru, he will attend the Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima.