US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel S. Sullivan said on Tuesday that the Obama team has already been briefed on the importance of the China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED).

"The transition between the Bush administration and the Obama administration is very closely coordinated," he told reporters in Beijing at the US-China Conference on Innovation and Commercialization.

Responding to questions on whether the Obama administration will continue the SED, he said that will be decided by President-elect Obama.

"I don't know whether there is anyone from the transition team who is traveling as part of the SED," he said. He also stressed that highlighting the importance of this dialogue "is certainly something that has been going on in the transition."

He said the benefits of deepening engagement with China on a wide range of issues covered by the SED have been recognized "pretty broadly" in the United States.

Each SED has made significant progress in different areas under these topics, he said. As part of the interaction, trust has been built between different ministries and senior-level officials, which in turn deepened the engagement and understanding between the two countries.

The fifth round of the SED is to be held in Beijing from Thursday to Friday. During the meeting, Chinese and US officials will discuss a wide range of issues such as macro-economic policy, the financial crisis, energy, the environment, trade, investment, food safety and product quality.

Work in between the dialogues is a very important element of the SED, he noted.

"You will see a lot of important results come out of the meeting this week," he told the reporters.

The US-China Conference on Innovation and Commercialization was held on Tuesday as a component of the fifth China-US SED.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2008)