BEIJING — Chinese and US chief trade negotiators agreed on Sept 5 to jointly take concrete actions to create favorable conditions for further consultations in October.

The agreement was reached in a phone conversation Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, held upon invitation with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The two sides agreed to hold the 13th round of China-US high-level economic and trade consultations in early October in Washington and maintain close communication before that.

Working groups of the two sides will conduct consultations in earnest in mid-September to make full preparations for the high-level talks to achieve substantial progress.

Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, Governor of the People's Bank of China Yi Gang, and Vice-Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Ning Jizhe also took part in the phone conversation.