On May 5, 2015, Ambassador Cui Tiankai hosted a reception to bid farewell to Minister He Ning and welcome Minister Zhu Hong. More than 100 people including officials from USTR, Departments of Commerce, State, Agriculture, Justice and representatives from various sectors and Chinese-invested enterprises.

Ambassador Cui spoke highly of Minister He's great efforts in the promotion of China-US trade and economic cooperation and bilateral relations during his tenure in the U.S., and sincerely wished the Minister a happy retired life. Meanwhile, Ambassador Cui welcomed Minister Zhu and hoped he will make new contributions to the development of China-US economic and trade relations with his knowledge and experience in the bilateral, regional and multilateral trade arenas.

Ambassador Cui thanked the U.S. government and all sectors for their longtime efforts in promoting the cooperation between China and the United States. Ambassador Cui noted that trade and economic relationship is the ballast and propeller for Sino-US relations, which is of critical importance for both sides to jointly promote the construction of new model of major-country relationship. In September, President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the U.S., which will bring new opportunities across a wide range of economic and trade areas. Ambassador Cui hoped that both sides can work together to further promote a healthy and stable trade and economic cooperation and bilateral relations.