Beijing, China – United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk released a brief statement today following the close of the second joint meeting of the United States-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED). Ambassador Kirk was in Beijing this week to participate in the meetings led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councillor Dai Bingguo. Later this year, USTR and the U.S. Department of Commerce will co-lead the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT).
"The second Strategic and Economic Dialogue was a very useful opportunity for candid discussions and direct engagement between those of us from the Obama Administration and our Chinese government counterparts and we agreed on a number of significant outcomes. I am pleased that we have been able to make some progress on the important issue of China’s indigenous innovation policy. While much more needs to be done, we will continue our work with China through intensive expert and high-level discussions about innovation policy that we have agreed to hold this summer. On government procurement, we welcome China’s commitment to submit a robust revised Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) offer before July 2010, and we will be working closely with China to ensure that their ultimate terms of accession are comprehensive.
“Following the S&ED, our focus moves from this important dialogue to another opportunity to promote open trade and increase cross-border investment, the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). The JCCT is focused on addressing bilateral trade issues and promoting commercial opportunities between the United States and China. Tomorrow in Beijing, USTR and Commerce will jointly lead a mid-year review of the JCCT. As we look toward the 2010 JCCT plenary meeting, now is the time to analyze how far we have come since the last plenary meeting in October 2009, and where we have more work to do.”
