WASHINGTON — China and the United States on Nov 23 concluded an annual high-level dialogue with “productive” results, expecting more cooperation through the talks in the next US administration.

China and the United States have “reached agreements on a number of issues with positive outcomes,” said Zhang Xiangchen, China’s deputy international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce.

He made the remarks at the closing press briefings of the 27th Session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), the last high-level economic dialogue between the two countries under the (Barack) Obama administration.

“In the meeting both China and the United States spoke highly of the important and indispensable role of the JCCT mechanism in expanding two-way trade and economic cooperation,” said Zhang.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman (R) speaks during a press briefing for the 27th Session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), in Washington D.C., the United States, Nov 23, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

“The role of the JCCT is to expand this (US-China) relationship by addressing commercial challenges head on and producing concrete results for both our countries,” said US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

“We have had a productive day,” she said.

“Now and into the future, the JCCT is an opportunity for us to build a legacy of cooperation, respect, and stronger US-China economic ties,” said Pritzker.

“JCCT is the oldest economic forum between our two countries and remains a cornerstone of our economic engagement with China. It is a meaningful tool for stronger and better relationships between our two countries,” said US Trade Representative Michael Froman.

“Today’s outcome is just one step in the path forward to a stronger, more fair, more open trade and investment relationship with China and we are looking forward to that work continuing in the month in a year ahead,” he said.

During this year’s JCCT, representatives from government delegations and business community of both countries had close contact on 12 important issues related to bilateral economic relation in a series of activities, making outcomes on a number of areas including innovation policies, two-way investment, intellectual property rights protection and enforcement, as well as digital economy and food safety.

Launched in 1983, the JCCT was the first high-level economic dialogue mechanism between China and the United States, and plays an important role in China-US economic cooperation and addressing their economic and trade frictions.