US and China will make efforts to shorten its negative list
(photo: cctv-america.com)
(VOVworld) - China and the US will focus on the length and quality of negative lists that outline sectors closed to foreign investment during the seventh round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) to push forward the bilateral investment treaty (BIT), a senior Chinese official said Tuesday. Zhang Xiangchen, the Chinese assistant minister of commerce, said the next two rounds of negotiations on BIT were scheduled to take place in September, adding that the US and China would make efforts to shorten its list. Both sides described discussing the negative list as major progress and a milestone event.
The BIT talks began in 2008 as China and the US sought to increase mutual investment. It was not until 2013 that the talks achieved specific results when the two countries agreed to held talks on the basis of pre-established national treatment to a negative list approach.