NANJING - Communication between China and the United States should be strengthened and cooperation broadened to boost the two nations' bilateral ties and promote world peace and development, an official with China's largest non-governmental organization (NGO) for peace said Sunday.

As the world's biggest developing country and the world's No.1 developed country, China and the US shoulder important responsibilities in areas including the global economic recovery, the resolving of international and regional problems and the maintenance of world peace and security, said Li Jinjun, an advisor with the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD), China's biggest peace NGO.

Li made the remarks at the third China-US non-governmental peace forum held Sunday in Changzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province.

The forum was jointly sponsored by the CPAPD and the US-based American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), both organizations with high prestige in their respective countries and both dedicated to the promotion of world peace and disarmament and social justice and universal development.

The forum, attended by nearly 60 officials and scholars from the two nations, covered three topics: international peace and security; Sino-US trade; and social governance; according to Yan Junqi, vice president of the CPAPD and also a vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress.

The first two forums were held in Beijing in 2008 and in Washington in 2009.