China will further enhance access in its service market and expand areas and channels for non-government investment, according to a fact sheet released here on Wednesday.
The move was aimed to expedite the development of its services industry and increase the share of services in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), said the economic track joint fact sheet of the first U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED).
In the fact sheet, the two countries agreed to take measures respectively to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth in their domestic economies both to ensure a strong recovery from the international financial crisis and to bring about more balanced and sustainable global economic growth after a global recovery is firmly established.
It said, firstly, both countries would enhance communication and the exchange of information regarding macro-economic policy, and would work together to pursue policies of adjusting domestic demand and relative prices to lead to more sustainable and balanced trade and growth.
Secondly, both sides would also pursue forward-looking monetary policies with due regard for the ramifications of those policies for the international economy.
In addition, they would encourage new approaches to infrastructure financing to assist with economic recovery.
The fact sheet said the United States would take measures to increase national saving as a share of GDP.
"The U.S. household saving rate has already risen sharply as a result of the crisis, contributing to a significant decline in the U.S. current account deficit, and the United States will adopt policies that will continue to encourage household saving," it said.
The United States would also reform its health care system with the aim of controlling rising health care costs for businesses and government while assuring high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans, and was committed to reducing the federal budget deficit relative to GDP to a sustainable level by 2013.
As for China, the fact sheet said the country would continue to implement structural and macroeconomic policies to stimulate domestic demand and increase the contribution of consumption to GDP growth.
China would also deepen social safety net reform, including strengthening its basic old-age insurance system and enterprise annuities, it said.
The first S&ED was held in Washington, D.C from July 27 to 28. The mechanism was jointly launched by Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President Obama during their meeting in April in London as a way to show elevation of the importance of China-U.S. cooperation under the new historical circumstances.
(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2009)