A state dinner for China's Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, will be held Thursday in the White House East Room.

The guest list is heavy on technology leaders.

Trump called it "the hottest ticket in town" during this week's United Nations General Assembly.

He said attendees would include "the entire tech world, the entire banking world and a lot more."

The menu starts with yellow squash velouté with wild mushrooms, herbs, crispy pancetta and scallion oil.

The main course is sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy, roasted garden eggplant and a sauce verte.

Dessert is vanilla crémeux with sour cherry confit and walnut frangipane, plus ice cream made with White House honey.

First lady Melania Trump's office said she helped with the preparations.

Guests will include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Google's Sundar Pichai, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell.

Edgard Kagan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the dinner was expected to show "the positive vibes surrounding the visit."

He said it signals that Trump is focused on warmth and a close personal connection with Xi.

Trump personally greeted Xi and his wife on Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews, an unusual step.

A 100-foot red carpet was rolled out, with a 21-person honor guard and a flyover by two B-1 bombers.

At a White House ceremony Thursday, Trump said the two men have forged a friendship since his first election in 2016.

Xi hosted Trump at a state dinner in Beijing in May.

Trump has since called his planned White House ballroom the "Great Hall of the United States" to rival the Great Hall of the People.