CGTN's Cui Hui'ao shows us where the president is headed for his first overseas trip of the year, and what he'll discuss with fellow leaders.

Amid the European Union's messy divorce from the UK, some EU members await the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping. China's Foreign Ministry confirms Xi's state visits to Italy, Monaco and France, March 21st to the 26th.

It comes following invitations from Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Prince Albert the second of Monaco, and French President Emmanual Macron. President Xi plans to meet with each.

WANG CHAO CHINESE VICE FOREIGN MINISTER "Last year, bilateral trade volume with the EU reached 682 billion US dollars. The EU has been China's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years."

Wang says President Xi's visit will inject new energy into China-EU relations. This is the president's first overseas trip this year, which will kick off in two Italian cities, Rome and Palermo.

WANG CHAO CHINESE VICE FOREIGN MINISTER "For China and Italy, we have been good friends over the years, we have enhanced strategic mutual trust and achieved fruitful cooperation in different areas, and this indeed brought tangible benefits to the development of our respective countries and expanded common interests."

Despite weakening global trade throughout 2018, China and Italy's bilateral trade volume reached a record high of 54.23 billion US dollars. And the strong momentum appears to be continuing with the upcoming visit.

CUI HUI'AO BEIJING "President Xi Jinping once said China-Europe partnerships feature peace, growth, reform and civilization. And these four words will once again be the central themes in the President's upcoming visit, which sends a clear message that China always takes the European Union (EU) as an important strategic partner and its ties with Europe are a diplomatic priority. Cui Hui'ao, CGTN, Beijing."