Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday urged entrepreneurs from both China and the U.S. to take full advantage of globalization and further promote cooperation by expanding their presence in each other's markets.

Hu made the remarks when he joined U.S. President Barack Obama in a meeting with Chinese and U.S. business leaders at the White House.

Hu spoke positively of the contribution the business leaders had made to each country's economic growth and the development of China-U.S. relations.

The Chinese president said two-way trade between China and the U.S. had increased more than 150-fold and was expected to top 380 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.

Bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation had yielded tangible benefits for the two peoples and created important opportunities for the two countries' enterprises, Hu said, adding that China-U.S. cooperation in trade and investment enjoyed great potential.

Hu and Obama agreed to cement cooperation in finance, trade, energy, environmental protection, science and technology, agriculture and infrastructure.

Hu welcomed U.S. enterprises to develop in the Chinese market, assuring them of a transparent, fair and efficient investment environment.

He also promised national treatment for all U.S. enterprises that register in China, saying the Chinese government would treat them equally with their Chinese counterparts in the accreditation of independent innovative products, government procurement and intellectual property rights protection.

The Chinese government was also supportive of Chinese enterprises' investment in the U.S., Hu said, adding that he believed the U.S. would provide an investment environment that ensured fair competition for Chinese enterprises.

For his part, President Obama said cooperation between business sectors of the two countries was the most important part of U.S.-China relations.

Obama said investment by Chinese enterprises promoted U.S. economic growth, while U.S. exports to China had surpassed 100 billion U.S. dollars, noting that exports to China created 500,000 job opportunities in the U.S. manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

The U.S. president said U.S.-China trade still had great potential and expressed his hope that the business sectors of the two countries would continue to strengthen their cooperation.

Hu, who is on his first state visit to the United States since Obama took office, will travel to Chicago Thursday and wrap up his visit Friday.

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