BEIJING — Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli, as special envoy of President Xi Jinping, will attend the funeral of late Uzbek President Islam Karimov on Sept 3.

Zhang was at the invitation of the Uzbek side, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Sept 3.

Karimov, who had served as president of the newly independent republic since 1991, suffered a brain hemorrhage on Aug 27.

His funeral will be held on Sept 3 in the historic town of Samarkand, where he was born, a government statement said, adding that a three-day period of mourning would start on the same day.