US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to visit China soon, Washington said after a “constructive” meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Switzerland on Wednesday, as the two countries seek to improve relations, AFP reported.

They “exchanged views on macroeconomic and financial developments,” the US Treasury said in a statement, referring to a “constructive conversation” during which they agreed on the importance for the global economy of “further strengthening” communication on economic and sustainable development issues. .

Yellen is “welcome” to visit China “at an appropriate time this year,” Liu said, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency, also citing “constructive discussions.”

After three long-distance meetings, Janet Yellen and Liu He met in Zurich for the first time since taking office, at a time when many political leaders are in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Faced with a challenging global economic outlook, there is an urgent need for the world’s two largest economies to communicate closely about global macroeconomic and financial conditions and to share views on how we are responding to the various challenges,” the US secretary told reporters ahead of the talks. .

Referring to the November meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Yellen acknowledged that the US and China had “areas of disagreement” but insisted the two countries should not “allow misunderstandings, especially those that arising from a lack of communication, unnecessarily affect their relationship.