US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, held talks Friday in Marrakech, Morocco, extending a series of high-level meetings that could lead to another summit for Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping next month.
(Bloomberg) — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, held talks Friday in Marrakech, Morocco, extending a series of high-level meetings that could lead to another summit for Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping next month.
“During the substantive and productive meeting, Secretary Yellen and Governor Pan exchanged views on macroeconomic and financial developments,” a Treasury spokesperson said in a statement after the two officials met on the sidelines of annual meetings for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
“They also discussed the international financial architecture and debt issues,” the spokeswoman said.
Scheduled for 30 minutes, the gathering lasted for 41 minutes, she added.
The two exchanged views on topics including US and China’s economies, developing nations’ debt issues and the IMF’s quota review, the PBOC said in a statement published on its website Friday.
They also discussed matters related to the US-China financial working group, according to the statement. The two countries in September set up two working groups to strengthen communications on economic and financial issues.
In remarks made during a Group of 20 meeting in Marrakech, Pan said China’s economic indicators continued to improve recently, and positive factors are increasing in the economy. China’s economy is maintaining a recovering trend, he said, according to a separate statement by the PBOC on Friday.
Pan reaffirmed the PBOC’s current policy stance of implementing a prudent monetary policy that’s also targeted and forceful, and pledged to provide stronger support for the real economy.
US-China relations have been on a roller-coaster during the Biden administration, marked by long periods of cautious rapprochement interrupted by sharp disagreements over trade, Taiwan and an alleged spy balloon incident. In recent months, several US cabinet officials, including Yellen, have traveled to Beijing to address disagreements and find areas of mutual interest.
Read More: Biden, Xi Meeting Becomes More Likely, Though Not Definite
Yellen has been particularly keen to build ties with China’s new economic leadership, installed earlier this year by Xi. This marks her second face-to-face session with Pan, who she met in Beijing in July when he was preparing to take his new post.
While she has been direct with Chinese officials about US complaints over human rights issues and national security concerns, she’s also been keen to collaborate with China in confronting climate change and providing debt relief to low-income countries.
(Updates with PBOC statements from fifth paragraph.)
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