On April 15, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Chinese and U.S. governors attending the second China-U.S. governors' forum at the Great Hall of the People.

"Relations between China and the United States are currently at an important phase that connects the past and the future," Xi said. Xi recalled his latest telephone discussion with U.S. President Barack Obama, saying they agreed on the direction for building a bilateral cooperative partnership and developing a new type of relations between major countries. Xi said China-U.S. cooperation will benefit the two nations and contribute to world peace, stability and common development. The two sides agreed to continue promoting various bilateral dialogue and cooperation mechanisms. Xi hailed the China-U.S. governors' forum as an important mechanism for regional cooperation. "China and the U.S. are economically complementary and see a long history of people-to-people and cultural exchanges, "Xi said, adding that these areas enrich the connotation of and inject a vitality into cooperation at local levels. At present, the Sino-U.S. exchanges and cooperation at local levels show unprecedented momentum of development. "The participating governors of both sides are gathered here for the common goal of cooperation and development," he said. Xi wished the forum great success and called on governors of both countries to make the most of and develop the forum as well as play a greater role in promoting China-U.S. friendship and bilateral relations.

Xi hoped the two sides will give full play to their own characteristics and advantages based on their respective development strategies. Xi encouraged Chinese provinces and U.S. states to work more closely in traditional sectors like agriculture and advance cooperation in new areas such as energy conservation, environmental protection, new energy, urban planning and infrastructure, so as to substantiate and deepen cooperation at local levels and establish longer-term and more reliable cooperative ties.

U.S. governors present at the meeting were Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell. They said China is their increasingly important partner, hailing exchanges and cooperation between the two sides as fruitful. They said they were glad to attend the forum and discuss deepening cooperation with Chinese provincial leaders. They called for stronger cooperation in agriculture, trade and economy, culture and education so as to make greater contributions to promoting U.S.-China relations. Addressing the forum, Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo said China is willing to further strengthen bilateral cooperation at local levels. He also expressed the hope that the forum will be run better and better.

The China-U.S. governors' forum was launched in 2011 according to the consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries and the second one was held from April 15 to 16 in Beijing and Tianjin. U.S. governors from Iowa, Wisconsin and Virginia as well as Chinese leaders from Tianjin Municipality, Hebei Province, Heilongjiang Province, Fujian Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region attended the forum.