U.S. President George W. Bush welcomed on Wednesday the creation of the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the United States and China and said the forum will promote bilateral economic relations.

"(Chinese) President Hu and I agree on the importance of maintaining strong and mutually beneficial U.S.-China economic relations, and on the need to establish an overarching bilateral economic framework between our two countries. The Strategic Economic Dialogue will help us achieve those objectives," Bush said in a statement.

"The economies of the United States and China have been engines of global growth. We must ensure that citizens of both countries benefit equitably from our growing economic relationship and that we work together to address economic challenges and opportunities, " the statement said.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson will chair the U.S. side of the dialogue, with support from Allan Hubbard, director of U.S. National Economic Council, the statement added.

Bush is now in New York to attend the general debate of the annual UN General Assembly.

Source: Xinhua