Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi arrived in Washington Monday morning to co-chair with US Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson the second meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) scheduled to begin Tuesday.

The second meeting of the SED will focus on topics in areas of service, investment and transparency, energy and environment, growth balance and innovation, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry.

"China hopes that through the meeting we can expand our common ground with the US side, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and push forward the strategic cooperative relationship," a spokeswoman of the ministry said earlier in Beijing.

The Chinese delegation, headed by the vice-premier, consists of ministers from a dozen departments under the Chinese cabinet, including the Finance Ministry, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Information Industry, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Health, China's Central Bank the People's Bank of China, among others.

For the US side, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will participate in the SED discussions.

The SED was agreed by President George W. Bush and President Hu Jintao last September, focusing on bilateral and global strategic economic issues of common concern. The SED is scheduled to convene twice a year, in Beijing and Washington respectively.

The first meeting was held in Beijing last December, which the two sides described as "satisfactory."