FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

In early September 2003, Secretary Snow of the U.S. Treasury Department visited Beijing and met with the Chinese Finance Minster Jin Renqing and Governor Zhou Xiaochuan of the People's Bank of China.  The two sides proposed to strengthen cooperation on the financial and economic sectors, and agreed that international experience of financial development could help further deepen financial reform and opening-up.   The People's Bank of China and the U.S. Treasury concurred to establish a joint technical cooperation program to facilitate exchanges and cooperation between financial and economic experts of the two countries, to promote development of the financial markets, and to strengthen market-based financial operational mechanisms and the related macro management institutions.   Establishing such a technical cooperation program would also serve to enhance mutual understandings and strengthen bilateral cooperation between China and the United States in the financial and economic sectors, so as to make a joint effort to contribute to the stability and development of the world economy.