SEATTLE — (CNN) During his second day in Seattle, Chinese President Xi Jinping met Wednesday with some of the biggest names in tech and then toured a Boeing airplane factory.
The aerospace and defense giant has a history of close ties to China. Boeing helped develop the country’s aviation industry and infrastructure.
Xi visited Boeing’s factory in Everett, Washington, where it produces the 747-8, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner. He was slated to meet with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, chairman Jim McNerney and Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner.
According to Boeing, China will need an estimated 6,330 new airplanes over the next 20 years — a haul worth $950 billion.
Xi will also cross paths with Bill Gates on Wednesday, a spokesperson from the Microsoft co-founder’s office confirmed.
Earlier Wednesday, Xi attended a forum hosted by the Paulson Foundation, an economic think tank founded by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Xi was set to meet with 30 American and Chinese CEOs, including Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.
Also scheduled to be there were executives from Chinese tech giants Baidu, Tencent, Lenovo and Alibaba, as well as ICBC, Bank of China and Haier.
The agenda included a range of issues, including trade relations, economic development and climate change.
On Tuesday, Xi signed a pact with some U.S. governors to collaborate on developing new clean energy technologies. The Chinese government recently announced it plans to import clean energy technology from America.
Xi also said Tuesday that he’s ready to talk about Internet security with the U.S. It’s a hot topic after a series of hacking incidents have strained relations between the countries, although Xi insists Beijing is not involved.
On Friday, Xi is scheduled for a visit to the White House and meet with President Obama.
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