China, U.S. sign MOU on energy, climate change, environment co-op

"Today's agreement sends a clear signal that the U.S. and China are ready to work together on clean energy and climate change it sets the stage for what I hope will be many years of close cooperation," Chu said.

He even expressed the hope that the agreement will "help us unlock the energy opportunity to clean energy and create jobs in new industries and vitalize our economies."

Noting that both countries have invested a lot and taken bold and impressive steps to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Chu urged the two countries to do more.

"The underlying principle is that ... we can accomplish more by working together than we can by working alone," the energy secretary said.

The issues of energy, climate change and environment are high on the agenda of the dialogue as part of the "strategic track" of discussions.

During the two-day discussion, the two countries had extensive discussions about what they are doing to reduce emissions, how they can move forward in advance of the UN Climate conference in Copenhagen this December and steps they intend to take to promote a sustainable low-carbon economy growth, officials said.

The China-U.S. Economic and Strategic Dialogue, the first of its kind between the world's biggest developing and developed economy, was jointly launched by Chinese President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart Obama at their meeting during the G20 summit in London on April 1.

The new mechanism is a reincarnation of a biannual strategic economic dialogue set up by the two countries in 2006 and a vice-ministerial strategic dialogue launched in 2005.