Joint Press Statement on the U.S.-China Global Issues Forum

The following is a joint press statement issued at the conclusion of the April 13 U.S.-China Global Issues Forum:
 
The United States and the People's Republic of China held the inaugural U.S.-China Global Issues Forum in Washington on April 13, 2005.  Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Guofang led interagency delegations, with the participation of relevant bureaus and offices of the Department of State and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as other U.S. and Chinese agencies. 

The objective of the Global Issues Forum is to identify ways to strengthen cooperation between the United States and China on transnational issues and to explore new avenues of joint work on a global basis.  In addition, the Forum seeks to enhance U.S.-China cooperation on global issues in international institutions. 

The inaugural session focused on U.S. and Chinese activities around the world and the potential to cooperate globally across four clusters of issues: clean energy and sustainable development; humanitarian assistance, poverty alleviation, and development financing; law enforcement; and public health. 

In the area of sustainable development and clean energy, the two sides discussed a range of global environmental issues such as biodiversity conservation, persistent organic pollutants, climate change, international clean energy cooperation; coordination to realize the goals of the World Summit on Sustainable Development; environmental partnerships; and the prospects for concerting U.S. and Chinese policies in fora such as the Commission on Sustainable Development and on cooperative initiatives relating to cleaner and more efficient use of existing fuels, development of new energy technology such as hydrogen, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electric power plants, and collaborating to improve access to cleaner and modern energy in poorer regions of the world.   

The humanitarian assistance, poverty alleviation, and development financing segment examined how donor governments can work to support and improve international response to humanitarian crises; aid financing mechanisms; and Millennium Development Goals.

The session on law enforcement focused on ways to combat transnational criminal activity, including bilateral, multilateral and global law enforcement initiatives, and cooperative efforts to counter, among other crimes, cybercrime, corruption, intellectual property crime, and trafficking-in-persons.
 
Discussion of public health issues included experiences with SARS and avian influenza; international cooperation to enhance surveillance of infectious diseases; and policy and technical tools to combat outbreaks of disease.

The two sides agreed to continue their dialogue on these and other global issues of common concern, and to convene the Global Issues Forum annually at the current level to review progress and determine future activities in these and other areas, and that the second such Forum should be held in China in the first half of 2006.  They agreed that the discussion in the Global Issues Forum waswere productive and that the Forum adds a new dimension to the steadily broadening and deepening U.S.-China relationship.

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