Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay state visits to the United States, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya from April 18 to 29, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao in Beijing Tuesday.

Hu's four-day U.S. trip, starting from April 18, will take him to Seattle and Washington D.C. He is scheduled to give a speech at the Yale University, Liu said.

Hu will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials during his visit. The two sides will have in-depth discussions on China-U.S. relations and other international and regional issues of common concern.

The two sides will have discussions "candidly, equally and withmutual respect". "I hope and believe that Hu's visit will further boost the development of China-U.S. relations," Liu said.

The goal of Hu's U.S. visit is to enhance exchanges and mutual trust and expand consensus and cooperation so as to jointly promote the China-U.S. constructive and cooperative relations, he said.

Both China and the United States are deeply concerned with certain key international issues and had some disputes, frictions and differences, he said.

"Hu's visit will be a good opportunity for China and U.S. to narrow or eliminate the differences," he said in reply to a question on China-U.S. disputes on trade and protection of intellectual property rights.

China will make joint efforts with the United States to expand common interests and enhance cooperation, while maintaining world peace and promoting global development through cooperation in international affairs, Liu said.