Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan attends a press conference in Washington, the United States, on Dec. 15, 2010. A plenary session of the annual trade talks between China and the United States opened in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun)
The annual trade talks between China and the United States have produced "positive outcomes," with a host of bilateral agreements signed, visiting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said on Wednesday.
Announcing a joint statement after the conclusion of the 21st Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) meeting in Washington, D.C., Wang said the two sides had candid exchanges of views on China-U.S. economic cooperation.
The JCCT, a mechanism established in 1983, has served as an important platform for both countries to promote trade and address issues of mutual concern.
"We reached many agreements and produced positive outcomes," Wang said at a press conference joined by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The two countries signed a host of economic cooperation documents covering a variety of areas such as investment promotion, agriculture, examination, inspection and quarantine, energy, water conservancy and trade statistics.
The two countries agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a bilateral cooperation framework on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), said the statement.
They will also continue to work to ensure the openness, fairness and transparency of business and investment environment and be open to foreign investment, it added.
China reaffirmed that, in compliance with its own quarantine requirement, it will resume the import of American beef, deboned and bone-in, under the age of 30 months. It will also lift the avian influenza bans on the states of Idaho and Kentucky.
