Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Monday that China and the United States should deepen mutual understanding and friendship between peoples.

"This provides an enduring driving force and broad foundation for the growth of state-to-state relations," said Hu addressing the opening session of the second round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

China and the United States will establish a mechanism of people-to-people exchange, which the president believed "will contribute to the cultural, scientific, technological and educational exchanges and cooperation" between the two countries.

He stressed the two countries should support youth exchanges so that the cause of China-U.S. relations will be carried forward by the younger generation.

The two countries should also scale up exchanges and cooperation between the business, academic and media communities and between local authorities and institutions to build a broad bridge of friendship between the two peoples, said Hu.

Under a consensus reached by Hu and U.S. President Barack Obama in London in last April, the two countries initiated the strategic and economic dialogue. The first dialogue was held in Washington in July of that year.

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