U.S. and China to Hold First Meeting of the Strategic

Washington, DC   Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson will lead a delegation to Beijing next month for the inaugural meeting of the U.S. ?China Strategic Economic Dialogue. Secretary Paulson will be joined by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, and other Administration officials.

In addition, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will join the Strategic Economic Dialogue discussions.

The dialogue was launched by Presidents Bush and Hu in September as an overarching forum for discussing ways the U.S. and China can work together to ensure that citizens in both countries benefit fairly from the growing bilateral economic relationship. While in Beijing, the U.S. delegation will hold a number of meetings with Vice Premier Wu Yi and other Chinese counterparts to discuss a range of issues including assuring continued global growth, China's economic development and further integration into the world trading system, stable energy markets, and cooperation on the environment. The U.S. delegation will also meet with Chinese President Hu and Premier Wen while there.

The talks will take place December 14-15 in Beijing.