US President George W. Bush met with Vice-Premier Wang Qishan in the White House on Wednesday and applauded the results of the fourth Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) that concluded earlier in the day.
Bush also said the 10-year energy and environment cooperation framework signed after the SED talks demonstrated that China and the United States have broad, shared interests in the area and that both sides are serious on the issue of environmental protection.
The two nations need to identify long-term goals within the framework and share technical know-how in environmental protection, Bush said.
The US president also said he was glad about the agreement reached at the SED meeting to launch negotiations on a bilateral investment protection accord between the two nations and hoped to see positive results from the negotiations very soon.
He made it clear that trade protectionism is contrary to the interests of both China and the US and both sides should stick to open and fair principles on the trade issue.
Bush said a strong and powerful US-China relationship is in line with the national interests of both countries and he hoped bilateral relations move forward continuously.
Wang said China highly appreciated Bush's important, long-time contributions to the development of the constructive and cooperative relationship between the two nations.
He pointed out that the SED mechanism was jointly initiated by Bush and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and has received attention and support from both leaders.
Wang said China is willing to make joint efforts with the US to facilitate the consensus reached by President Bush and President Hu, and to advance the SED process toward a more fruitful future.
Bush said the Beijing Olympics in August is a great event that every Chinese is proud of and he is looking forward to attending the Olympics and sharing that pride with the Chinese people.
Wang strongly welcomed Bush's attendance at the Games.
Earlier in the day, Wang and US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wrapped up the June 17-18 SED meeting in Annapolis, Maryland.
Participants of the meeting included ministerial-level officials and other senior officials from the two governments.
Both sides signed a 10-year energy and environment cooperation framework after the two-day meeting.
Wang also met with Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Washington on Wednesday.
The Chinese vice-premier said China attaches great importance to its relationship with the IMF and is willing to continue to work with the IMF based on mutual understanding and mutual respect.
Strauss-Kahn said China is playing an increasingly important role in the global economy.
He said the relationship between China and the IMF is very important and he hopes to strengthen it.
Source: China Daily/Xinhua
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