BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 2nd World Internet Conference in the riverside town of Wuzhen in East China's Zhejiang province, an official announced on Wednesday.

Xi is expected to deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the conference, which is scheduled to be held from Dec 16 to 18, said Lu Wei, minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China, at a press conference.

Compared with the first conference held last year, the number of guests has increased with more than 2,000 participants from home and abroad, Lu said, adding about 50 percent will be from foreign countries.

Of the foreign guests, eight are foreign leaders including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev and Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, and nearly 50 are minister-level officials, Lu said.

The theme of the upcoming conference is mutual connection on networks and mutual governance in cyberspace, according to Lu.

He said China would like to cooperate with other countries in the governance and form a shared life community on the Internet.

Cao Yin contributes to this story.