Engage China Delegation Visits Beijing, Shanghai; Will Press for Progress on Financial Services at Upcoming SED
WASHINGTON, DC Representatives of Engage China will visit Beijing and Shanghai, China Tuesday, November 18 through Friday, November 21 to meet with Chinese government leaders and business leaders in advance of the fifth U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED). Engage China is a coalition of ten leading financial services trade associations united in support of the goals of the U.S.-China SED. In particular, the coalition is strongly of the view that continued reform and modernization of China's financial sector is important to China achieving its economic goals of maintaining high rates of growth and job creation, building a more services-based, consumer-driven economy, reducing poverty, and ensuring a more equitable distribution of opportunity and prosperity.
The purpose of the trip is to encourage the SED process, strengthen economic ties between the two nations, and reinforce the view that accelerated progress toward greater openness and modernization of China's financial sector is the key to more diversified and sustainable long-term growth of China's economy and to resolving certain outstanding issues that have complicated the U.S.-China economic relationship, such as the trade imbalance and China's currency policy.
Current turmoil in global capital markets should not be interpreted as reason for China to suspend or slow progress toward a more modern and developed financial system. Instead, as China continues to reform its financial sector, it has the opportunity to learn from the US and European market episodes to build a more durable financial and regulatory structure. Continued reform and modernization of China's financial sector promises to deliver significant gains for China and its people.
The current global economic crisis underscores the importance of continued high-level communication between the U.S. and China. The SED greatly enhances economic cooperation between the United States and China -- to the betterment of the people of both nations.
(The group will host a press roundtable in Beijing and Shanghai. Details will be forthcoming.)
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