WASHINGTON - Enhancing mutual benefit and cooperation would be the main theme of the ongoing China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues (S&EDs), China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming said here Monday.

Chen told Xinhua on the sidelines of the current round of dialogue talks that it had an extra element not present at the first two rounds.

It was convening only a few months after Chinese President Hu Jintao's successful visit to the United States in January, during which important consensus was reached by Hu and US President Barack Obama to build a bilateral cooperative partnership on the basis of mutual respect and benefit.

It would therefore build on the momentum and endeavor to step up cooperation in the spirit of the consensus reached during President Hu's visit.

Chen said at a Monday press conference the bilateral trade imbalance was the result of a complex set of factors which had existed for a long time and he urged the United States to ease the export restriction on hi-tech products to China.

"China and the United States could further tap cooperation potential in a large range of areas, including finance, education, sports, healthcare, among others," he said.

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The minister also hoped the United States could create a better environment for Chinese enterprises looking to invest in the world's largest economy, stressing that investment could provide a boost to job creation locally and was welcomed by local residents.

The two-day S&EDs is co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The dialogue mechanism was upgraded from the former Strategic Dialogue and biennial Strategic Economic Dialogue, which were initiated by the two countries in 2005 and 2006, respectively.