Vice Premier Wu Yi met with the newly-appointed US Special Envoy for Strategic Economic Dialogue, Alan Holmer in Beijing Friday.

 

Holmer was appointed by US Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson as Special Envoy for China and for the Strategic Economic Dialogue in February.

 

Wu told Holmer China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue is a "very important" economic cooperation mechanism that was jointly proposed by President Hu Jintao and President Bush.

 

Last December, the first meeting of the Dialogue was successfully held in Beijing, which helped to increase mutual understanding and trust, and cement bilateral trade ties as well as overall relations, Wu said.

 

The second meeting of the Dialogue will be kicked off in Washington in May.

 

Wu called for both sides to make good preparation for the second meeting, and implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state.

 

Calling US-China ties as the "most important" bilateral relations in the world, Holmer said the Dialogue has become an important platform to push forward bilateral ties.

 

He said President Bush attaches great importance to the Dialogue. Paulson, who is the head of the US trade mission to the Dialogue, expects to work closely with Wu to promote further development of this mechanism, he added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2007)