On April 21st, 2004, the 15th session of the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) was held at the Ministry of Commerce of the US. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, who led a Chinese Delegation, and US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans and Trade Representative Robert Zoellick jointly chaired the session. US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman also took part in the talks. In an atmosphere of friendliness, both sides exchanged views in an in-depth and frank way and reached common consensus on problems within Sino-Us relations of economy and trade. Both sides thought highly of the achievements made in the session.

Wu Yi said that the enhancement of the JCCT's level is the decision jointly made by the leaders of the two countries and its aim is to boost the healthy and steady development of bilateral relations of economy and trade. The Chinese government values this mechanism and has done extensive preparations. In the process of rapid development of bilateral relations of economy and trade, it is not unusual to encounter some trade disputes or friction, but what is important is that both sides should treat and handle these issues from a strategic and long-term perspective and show mutual understanding and compromises to avoid the politicization of pure economic and trade issues. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, at the end of last year, proposed five principles for guiding Sino-US economic and trade cooperation during his official visit to the United States. The core elements of these principles are development, equality and mutual benefit. China hopes that the JCCT could serve as "a very good platform" for promoting bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Wu Yi said that China attaches great importance to its relationship with the United States, and economic and trade ties are an important part of the relationship. At present, China and the United States have become each other's major trading partners and complement each other greatly in economy with a broad prospect for cooperation. Economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is not a zero-sum game but a win-win relationship of mutual benefit. The Chinese side is prepared to work with the United States to advance such cooperation in various fields through better communication and mutual understanding.

Secretary Evans and other officials indicated that this session has fully demonstrated that China is committed to a stronger economic and trade relationship with the United States. Since the reform and opening-up, especially after entering WTO, China has made well-known achievements. With rapid and steady economic growth, China has become one of the engines to sustain global economic growth and established a more solid basis for US-China economic and trade cooperation. the United States will continue to make efforts to expand and strengthen its comprehensive economic and trade relations with China.

China and the Us agreed to establish six working group within the frame of the JCCT to deal respectively with issues such as China's market economy status, trade remedy measures, agricultural products' inspection and quarantine, trade of textile products, protection of intellectual property rights and statistical methods of trade volume. Both sides also reached consensus on trade of service industry, technological standards, trade of agricultural products and their inspection and quarantine. After the session, Wu Yi , Evans, Zoellick and US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman held a joint news conference and attended the signing ceremony of eight documents including the exchange of copies of the Agreement on Sino-Us Marine and a joint statement.