By Dan Steinbock 

At the opening of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SAED), US President Barack Obama said:"No one nation can meet the challenges of the 21st century on its own, nor effectively advance its interests in isolation. It is this fundamental truth that compels us to cooperate."

The remarks set a new tone of cooperation for the first round of the US-Chinese dialogue in Washington. It is the economic challenges ahead that will test it.

It's a different world now. China's dramatic rise and the global crisis have highlighted the increasing interdependency of national economies.

Washington attaches great importance to the strategic and economic dialogue, which is co-chaired by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, and China's Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.

The importance of the expanded dialogue was also reflected in the broadened US delegation, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Obama's budget director Peter Orszag.

Behind the limelight, the two sides got down to "very constructive, very candid" negotiations, which focused on the challenges and opportunities that both nations face on a wide array of bilateral, regional and global areas.

The first SAED round resulted in a broad framework for cooperation in four key areas. The two nations agreed to:

Undertake macroeconomic and structural policies to ensure a more sustainable and balanced trajectory of global growth;

Build more resilient and market-oriented financial and regulatory systems;

Reaffirm their commitment to open- and rules-based trade and investment; and

Recognize the critical role of the international financial institutions in preventing and responding to crisis and ensuring balanced global growth.

How meaningful are these results? The weary will answer that the devil is in the details. The hopeful will respond that never before has the dialogue been so broad, and so promising.

Now the SAED reflects more closely what Clinton has called the "most important bilateral relationship in the world in this century".

During the Bush era, the dialogue occurred amid great expectations but on a narrow agenda. In the Obama era, the dialogue has started amid more realistic expectations but a broad agenda.

Economic issues currently reign over the strategic ones. In this regard, the dialogue focused on efforts to cooperatively address the crisis and to strengthen growth. It is the first goal of the broad framework – balanced global growth – that is most critical in the short term.

Since fall last year, the US current account has fallen and private savings rates have risen to historical average levels. Now Washington has promised to take steps to reinforce these trends, while seeking to lower the fiscal deficit to sustainable levels once recovery really starts.

In turn, China will intensify its efforts to rebalance toward domestic demand-led growth and increase the share of consumption in GDP.

Both sides hope that greater development of China's services sector and the shift away from dependence on exports and heavy industry will have a powerful effect on rebalancing. They also hope that it will support the transition to a green economy.