(Archived Content)
TG-238
As Prepared for Delivery
It is a pleasure to welcome our Chinese counterparts to the Treasury Department for the second day of the Economic Track of our Strategic and Economic Dialogue. We look forward to continuing our discussions today as we lay the foundation for a positive, cooperative and comprehensive economic relationship between our nations.
Yesterday, we focused our attention on the importance of laying a foundation for sustainable, more balanced global economic growth as well as the need for a fundamental transition to a green global economy. Today, we look forward to formulating strategies for building a strong financial system and reaffirming our joint commitment to economic growth, job creation, innovation and competitiveness through open and fair trade and investment.
Yesterday, we concluded that our powerful joint response to the global financial and economic crisis has marked a turning point in our cooperation in overcoming global challenges. The global financial crisis has made clear that the economic policy choices made by China and the U.S. are critical not only to our own domestic economies; these choices are crucially important to the stability of the world economy as a whole.
In our discussions yesterday, we recognized the importance of laying a new foundation for more balanced, sustainable global growth once a recovery is firmly in place.
Our two nations are committed to a strong and stable international financial system that will contribute to more stable, balanced growth economic globally. Today, we will discuss measures to promote financial reform and reduce the risk of future financial crisis.
In addition to the challenges of reforming our domestic financial systems, we face the joint challenge of strengthening our international economic and financial institutions. Today, we will discuss governance reforms to help the IFIs be more representative of dynamic emerging economies, as well as strengthen their capacity to prevent future crises.
We can build upon our joint response to the global financial crisis by continuing to provide constructive leadership and support for the institutions underpinning global financial stability.
Finally, we will discuss additional measures that our two countries can take to support an open trading system, discourage protectionist policies, and seize the opportunities that trade and investment offer for creating jobs and bringing benefits to our firms and workers.
The United States and China may not always agree on economic issues, but the S&ED provides a platform for narrowing our differences and reinforcing our common interests, both bilaterally and in setting the multilateral economic agenda.
President Obama and President Hu have expressed a desire to place the S&ED framework at the center of our bilateral relationship. We are succeeding in the Economic Track by laying a stable foundation for cooperation on our long-term objectives and the achievement of concrete, meaningful progress on those objectives along the way.
Thank you.
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