BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China and the United States held a parliamentary dialogue here on Monday, focusing on political and trade issues.

    The dialogue, the seventh of its kind, was held between China's National People's Congress (NPC) and the House of Representatives of the US Congress.

    China's NPC and the US House of Representatives set up an inter-parliamentary exchange mechanism in 1999, and have so far had six talks.

    Jiang Enzhu, chairman of NPC's Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the China-US Inter-parliamentary Exchange Group, said it has been established that such exchanges are "effective" and have helped improve mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries.

    He said the Chinese NPC is ready to join with the US House of Representatives to continue improving the exchange mechanism and consolidate the results of the dialogues.

    Donald A. Manzullo, chairman of the US-China Inter-parliamentary Exchange Group, co-chaired the dialogue with Jiang.

    He said both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party of the Unites States are interested in improving US-China relations. He said he hoped the dialogue and his delegation's visit to China will further improve mutual understanding between the two sides.

    The US parliamentary delegation will also visit southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province. Enditem