US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday that the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) with China provides a platform for narrowing differences and reinforcing common interests between the two countries.

"Yesterday, we focused our attention on the importance of laying a foundation for sustainable, more balanced global economic growth as well as the need for a fundamental transition to a green global economy," said Geithner in remarks during the S&ED which started on Monday in the US capital.

"Today, we look forward to formulating strategies for building a strong financial system and reaffirming our joint commitment to economic growth, job creation, innovation and competitiveness through open and fair trade and investment," he added.

Geithner, who co-chaired the "Economic Track" with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, said the global financial crisis has made clear that the economic policy choices made by China and the United States "are critical not only to our domestic economies, those choices are crucially important to the stability of the world economy as a whole."

Leaders of China and the United States have expressed a desire to place the S&ED framework at the center of the bilateral relationship between the two countries, said the US treasury chief.

"We are succeeding in the Economic Track by laying a stable foundation for cooperation on our long-term objectives and the achievement of concrete, meaningful progress on those objectives along the way," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2009)