Chinese President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, met in Washington on Monday to discuss bilateral relations, the Iranian nuclear issue and other matters of common concern.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington April 12, 2010. President Hu Jintao arrived in Washington on Monday to attend the Nuclear Security Summit slated for April 12-13. [Ju Peng/Xinhua]

The two presidents exchanged views on bilateral relations and major global and regional issues of common interests, and reached important agreement, Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman of the Chinese delegation, said.

Both sides believed that a good China-U.S. relationship serves the common interests of the two countries and contributes to world peace, stability and prosperity, Ma said.

During the meeting, Hu said China and the United States should properly solve their economic and trade rifts through consultations on an equal footing and jointly uphold the larger interests of China-U.S. economic cooperation and trade.

He also said the sound and stable development of China-U.S. economic and trade ties is good for China, for the United States and for the world economic development.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, Hu said China hopes various parties will continue to step up diplomatic efforts and actively seek effective ways to resolve it through dialogue and negotiations.

China and the United States have the same overall goal on the Iranian nuclear issue, he said.