(Yicai) July 29 -- The "River Dialogue between Shanghai and New York," held on the 45th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between China and the United States, used exchange between the waterfront cities as an example to explore how to achieve win-win results via economic and trade cooperation.

Shanghai's Huangpu river and New York's Hudson river have witnessed the renewal, development, exchange, and cooperation between the two cities and countries, Sha Hailin, president of the Shanghai Public Relations Association, said at the event themed "Common Ideals and Common Future" on July 26.

From recent exchange achievements between Shanghai and New York, whether it is the cooperation foundation laid in mutual high-level visits or the substantial progress made in areas such as economy, trade, culture and tourism, education, and technological innovation, collaboration between the two is steadily advancing, noted Sha, who is also the director of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies' academic committee.

"No matter how tense the relationship between China and the US is and how severe economic frictions are, bilateral trade has bottomed out after falling for several quarters," said He Weiwen, a distinguished research fellow at the Shanghai Institute for American Studies and co-director of the China Association of International Trade's centers for China, US, and European Union studies.

"This is thanks to the complementarity of their industries and mutual trade among Chinese and US firms based on the market," noted He, who is also a former economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese Consulate General in New York. "Political factors can cause considerable distortion in a certain period but cannot eliminate the pattern," He added and called for steadying and developing China-US relations, especially economic and trade, to benefit both.

China-US trade gained 231-fold between 1979 and last year when it reached USD575 billion, with China becoming the third largest exporter to the US after Mexico and Canada, said Eric Zheng, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. "US firms in China still view the country as a key strategic market despite the impact of geopolitical and economic downturns in recent years," Zheng added.

Artificial intelligence has a great potential to amplify global connectivity, according to Zhou Hanmin, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association.

"In the era of AI, it is crucial that China and the US take on a key and leading role in coordinating and collaborating to ensure that the AI era becomes even brighter than before," Zhou said. The resolution on "Enhancing International Cooperation on Capacity-Building of AI," proposed by China and later adopted by the US, proves that technological collaboration, particularly in AI, is a crucial link between nations, he added.

Over 200 business people, experts, and academicians attended the "River Dialogue between Shanghai and New York," organized by the Shanghai Public Relations Association, AmCham Shanghai, and Shanghai Institute of American Studies, to share their experiences on China-US cooperation in investment, finance, education, and culture.

Editor: Martin Kadiev