WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Secretary of State John Kerry joined by Department of Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will meet with Chinese co-chairs, State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vice Premier Wang Yang, as well as other members of the Chinese delegation and their US colleagues during the Dialogue meetings.
“The [S&ED] Dialogue will focus on the challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term economic and strategic interest,” the statement read on Monday.
The June S&ED comes as the US Congress is deciding whether to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, which is poised to become the largest free trade deal to date.
The TPP would include some 12 countries from the Asia-Pacific region — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States — and is expected to cover at least 40 percent of the global economy.
The TPP agreement, however, has faced a certain amount of resistance from China, which is not a partner. Beijing has rolled out a separate project, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to finance infrastructure projects in the region.
Additionally, the Department of State announced that Kerry will also participate in the sixth annual US-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE) with Vice Premier Yang in Washington in late June.
