China, U.S. basically complete text negotiation on BIT

China and the United States have basically completed text negotiation on bilateral investment treaty (BIT), China's Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said here Saturday.

Gao made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing annual parliamentary session.

The China-U.S. negotiation is advancing toward a period of exchanging the negative lists on which foreign investments are restricted by host countries.

Given the U.S. and China, the world's biggest and second biggest economies, have different development levels, national conditions and growth modes, the negative lists exchange would be a challenge to each side.

Despite the challenge, the two sides have maintained close communications and interactions, Gao said.

The completion of negotiation on and the signing of the China-U.S. BIT will have significant implications for global investment rules, Gao said.