Deputy Secretary Burns and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, EcoPartnership Signing Ceremony, July 11, 2013

Yang Jiechi pointed out in his remarks that China and the United States face many common challenges in the fields of climate change, energy and environment while they share broad common interests and a sound basis for cooperation. US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns attended the ceremony on behalf of the US government. He said US-China EcoPartnership Program represents a model of cooperation for the two countries. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the climate change issue and makes great efforts to build ecological civilization. The US side hopes that the two countries will strengthen cooperation in the fields of energy and environment so as to bring more benefits to their people as well as the people in the world at large. The EcoPartnership Program was launched in December, 2008. It aims to encourage local governments, enterprises and academic institutions of the two countries to carry out cooperation in related areas.