China and the United States have expressed a desire to deepen people-to-people contacts during the third annual U.S.-China High-level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, which is held in Beijing from Thursday to Friday.

State Councilor Liu Yandong co-chaired the session with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on the sidelines of the ongoing China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), also being held from Thursday to Friday.

Both sides hailed the progress made in boosting exchanges since the establishment of the consultation mechanism two years ago. Both sides said they attach great importance to the exchanges, reviewing the progress made in the area thus far and exchanging views on future work to be done.

About 300 representatives from the fields of diplomacy, education, science and culture attended the session.

Hao Ping, vice minister of education and a coordinator for the consultation, said China is willing to work with the U.S. to ensure the success of the consultation and implement agreements reached by the leaders of both nations.

In November 2009, the Chinese and U.S. governments decided to create the consultation mechanism to strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries, signing an agreement to establish the mechanism the following year. Both sides agreed to hold the consultation annually, alternating between China and the United States.