Chinese President Hu Jintao left Beijing Monday by a special plane for state visits to Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia and to attend the leaders' informal dialogue meeting between the North and the South in Evian, France.

He will also attend the third Summit Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States to be held in Moscow, the celebrations of the tri-centennial anniversary of the establishment of the city of St. Petersburg.

President Hu was invited by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, French President Jaques Chirac, Kazakh President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev and Mongolian President Nachagyn Bagabandy, respectively.

President Hu's entourage includes his wife, Liu Yongqing, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, Minister of Commerce Lu Fuyuan, Director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC (Communist Party of China) Central Committee Wang Huning, Deputy Director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee

Ling Jihua, Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Guchang and Vice-Minister of the State Development and Reform Commission Zhang Guobao.