U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday that SED (Strategic Economic Dialogue) helps the United States and China to make progress on fundamental long-term structural economic issues, as well as on very pressing short-term issues.

In his speech to Chinese officials and business leaders at the Shanghai Futures Exchange, Paulson said the United States "was very pleased with the first meeting in Beijing in December", and he was confident that the SED would contribute to progress on China-U.S. economic issues, because the United States and China share many strategic economic interests.

"I believe we share many of the same goals. The policies of openness and market principles that the United States advocates are similar to those that China's leaders have embraced to bring balanced, harmonious growth to your nation," said Paulson.

Paulson said at the end of his speech that the policy disagreements between the United States and China "are not about the direction of change (in China), but about the pace of change".

Source: Xinhua