Xi-Trump phone call G20 prelude

President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump have agreed to meet again at the upcoming G20 summit in Argentina and directed their economic teams to ramp up contact and consultation.

In a phone call at the invitation of Trump on Thursday, Xi said he hopes China and the United States will be able to promote a steady and healthy relationship in accordance with the important consensuses reached between him and Trump.

"Both of us have good wishes for the healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations and the expansion of the economic and trade cooperation. We must work hard to turn the visions into reality," Xi said, according to a news release by the Chinese side.

Trump said that it is very important for the heads of state of the US and China to keep frequent, direct communication, and that he and Xi should keep in touch with each other.

The US president also said he attaches importance to a good relationship with Xi and is willing to extend, through Xi, his good wishes to the Chinese people.

Trump said he looks forward to meeting Xi at the upcoming G20 summit and having an in-depth discussion on some major issues.

He said he hopes the two countries will make joint efforts to prepare for the meeting, adding that the United States attaches importance to US-China economic and trade cooperation and would like to continue to expand exports to China.

He also said that the economic teams from the two sides need to enhance exchanges and consultations.

Trump said he supports American companies' participation in the first China International Import Expo, which is scheduled for Nov 5-10 in Shanghai.

Xi said the essence of the China-US cooperation on economy and trade is mutual benefits and win-win results.

He said he was pleased that a host of US companies are actively participating in the expo, an event that demonstrates China's willingness to increase imports and expand its opening-up.

Xi also said that in the past the two countries have had "successful precedents" for resolving their trade differences.

The economic teams of the two countries should strengthen contacts, conduct consultations on issues of mutual concern and push for a "mutually acceptable solution" to China-US economic and trade issues, he said.

The two sides also exchanged views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Xi said that since the start of this year, the peninsula situation has undergone positive changes.

China appreciates the historic meeting between Trump and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un, which promotes denuclearization and political settlement of the peninsula issue, according to a Xinhua report.

China hopes that the US and the DPRK take care of each other's concerns and further advance the denuclearization of peninsula in concert with the building of a peace mechanism there, Xi said, adding that China will maintain a constructive role.

Trump said that since the beginning of the year, talks between the US and the DPRK have made positive progress.

The US side attaches great importance to China's important role in the peninsula issue. It is willing to continue to strengthen communication and coordination with China, said Trump, according to Xinhua.

The meeting would be the presidents' first encounter in a year following a historic summit in Beijing last November.

The G 20 is the only multilateral setting in months where the two can meet, Douglas Paal, vice-president of the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told China Daily last week.

"Trump will skip the APEC leaders forum and East Asian Summit, so it is an opportunity to address many issues where only the top leaders are considered authoritative," Paal said.

Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to US, said it was clear that such top-level communication plays the "key role", "irreplaceable role" in guiding the relationship forward.