国内英语新闻:Chinese premier meets U.S. bigwigs on bilateral ties, common concerns

NEW YORK, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met here Tuesday with a group of leading figures in the United States' financial, think-tank and media circles for discussions on relations between the two countries and other affairs of shared concern.

Among the attendants were former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is also founder of financial information provider Bloomberg.

"It is a fact that China and the United States have both stable political relations and very close economic and trade cooperation," Li said in the opening remarks before they headed into closed-door talks.

"I was told that, for every second, there is one Chinese customer buying an iPhone," said the Chinese premier, who is here for a series of UN conferences and engagement with a wide spectrum of U.S. society.

Noting that the band of "old friends" and "new friends" is of great representativeness and influence, Li said he is very happy to have this opportunity to exchange views with them on China-U.S. relations and other issues of common concern.

The gathering came one day after the premier met in New York with U.S. President Barack Obama, during which Li called for concerted efforts to promote economic and trade ties between the world's top two economies.

Enhancing China-U.S. cooperation accords with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the common wish of the world community, he said, expressing China's willingness to deepen bilateral, regional and global cooperation in a variety of fields.

Obama, for his part, reiterated that his country supports China's reform process and hopes that the two sides can make further progress in bilateral investment treaty negotiations.

Li is scheduled to attend the general debate of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday before he heads to Canada to continue his ongoing overseas trip, which will also take him to Cuba.