China and the United States will work together to make international financial institutions more responsive to developing countries, according to a fact sheet released on Wednesday.
"Both countries agree to work together to reform international financial institutions in order to ensure they are responsive to the needs of developing countries, and strengthen their capacity to prevent and respond to future crises," said the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue Economic Track Joint Fact Sheet.
China and the United States held their first strategic and economic dialogue in Washington from July 27 to 28.
The strategic track was chaired by Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while its economic track was chaired by Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as special representatives of their respective presidents.
To strengthen the effectiveness and legitimacy of the international financial institutions, both countries agreed on enhancing their governance and ensuring it fully reflects changes in the world economy.
"In this regard, emerging and developing economies, including China, should have greater voice and representation," said the fact sheet.
On reforming international financial institutions, both countries agreed on improving their' governance structure, enhancing their financial capacity and strengthening policy surveillance in the International Monetary Fund(IMF)'s areas of core competency.
Both nations were committed to working together constructively and cooperatively, in this economic dialogue and the G20 as well as other multilateral institutions and fora.
Both vowed they would take steps to fully implement the consensus reached in the previous two G20 summits and work together to ensure the upcoming Pittsburgh Leaders summit will deliver concrete, positive results.
The United States supported China's continuation and strengthening of its exchange with the Paris Club and the Global Forum on Taxation.
In the fact sheet, both countries backed maintaining the IMF’s central role in promoting global financial stability and growth.
As two of the world’s major economies, the United States and China said they shared an interest in the IMF undertaking strong, even-handed and independent multilateral and bilateral surveillance.
Both nations agreed that the multilateral development banks (MDBs) should have the right tools in place to help their members, especially the poorest, successfully promote sustainable poverty reduction and economic growth.
Both countries maintained that MDB support should be based on a country-driven approach and include both financial and technical assistance to help build capacity for the attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2009)
