2017年CRI China, US mull strengthened business ties（在线收听）

The gathering was held ahead of the comprehensive economic dialogue between the two countries due to be held next week.

China's Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, and the chairman of China General Chamber of Commerce, Xu Chen, took part in the meeting aimed at exploring further bilateral economic collaboration and investment deals.

The forum on China-US business collaboration is part of the 2017 US National Governors Association Summer Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.

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Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai, told the meeting that bilateral economic ties and local exchanges have seen fruitful results over the years and they are vitally important for China-US relations.

"We are now making even greater efforts to expand such cooperation and exchanges. We have established seven pairs of trade and economic exchange mechanisms between Chinese provinces and US states and cities, including states of California, Texas, New York, Iowa, Michigan, Washington and city of Chicago. Under these mechanisms, more than 55 investment programs were signed last year with contracts totalling 2.5 billion US dollars and there would be over 100 trade missions traveling across the Pacific this year," Cui said.

China has become a major business partner of US.

Statistics show that trade volume between China and US reached nearly 520 billion yuan in 2016, 211 times the amount when the two countries established diplomatic ties; mutual investment has surpassed 60 billion US dollars.

The governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, listed successful economic cooperation cases with China. He said he was looking forward to more Chinese companies' involvement in Maryland development.

"We are very proud of the excellent relationship we have with China, which is evident through the success of the 27 Chinese companies that are already headquartered in our state, including HIT Robot Group, Salubris Biotheraputics, Mokobio Life Science. China is Maryland's fifth largest export market and fourth largest for imports. Looking ahead, we very much want to strengthen Maryland's ties with China and we want to find ways to do more business together in the future," Hogan noted.

Meanwhile, Chinese firms are also seeking investment opportunities to introduce US programs to the domestic market.

Qi Bin, vice manager of the China Investment Corporation said they have prepared 200 billion US dollars for overseas investment and are particularly optimistic about developing US programs in China.

"CIC is trying to look for opportunities in those products and technologies or services or business models which can be integrated with China's 1.3-billion-consumer markets. So, the investment is not just about investment but about synergy and integration, and that's where CIC can add value," Qi said.

In parallel with the forum, more than 20 Chinese and US companies have signed agricultural agreements, worth 5 billion US dollars, for China to import soybeans, pork and beef from the US.

A signing ceremony for the agreements was held in the Midwestern US state of Iowa.

The move is part of a "100-Day Action Plan" agreed to by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump during their first face-to-face meeting in April.