President Hu Jintao wrapped up his three-day G20 summit trip in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Tuesday with a meeting with US President Barack Obama.

Hu said that China will continue to work with the United States to appropriately handle differences and sensitive issues under the cooperative partnership, and highly praised Obama's leadership and contribution to bilateral ties.

It was the 12th face-to-face meeting between the two leaders and likely to be the last one before the US presidential election in November. Analysts said the meeting is likely to influence bilateral ties in a profound way.

Hu has attended every G20 summit since the first in 2008, and separate talks between the leaders of China and US have become a tradition, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told reporters prior to the summit.

The two leaders exchanged views on bilateral relations and major regional and global issues.

Hu noted that it was in the interests of both countries to build sound, stable and productive bilateral relations, which will also benefit world peace and development.

He said China is willing to work with the US to "firmly grasp" the direction of their cooperative partnership, enhance mutual trust and cooperation, appropriately solve differences and sensitive issues, and promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

Obama commended the fast growth of US-China relations during the three and a half years he has been in office, especially "significant progress" in expanding trade and commercial opportunities with China.

He said that the two countries had established a practical and positive cooperation mechanism and cooperated effectively concerning the world economy, bilateral trade, and major international and regional issues.

This cooperation not only serves the interests of the US and China, but also the rest of the world, Obama said.

He also expressed gratitude to Hu for his leadership in developing bilateral ties as well as in the G20 organization.

China and the US are the second-largest trade partners to each other, with bilateral trade reaching $446.6 billion last year.

Official figures from China also show that US companies had invested more than $67.6 billion in China by the end of 2011, while Chinese companies invested $6 billion in non-finance sectors in the US.

According to Nina Hachigian with the Center for American Progress, the role that the G20 plays in the US-China relationship, and vice versa, is important to watch.

"The actions and interactions of these two economic heavyweights will greatly influence how successful the G20 can be over the long run in steering the world's economic ship," Hachigian said in an article on the center's website.

Philip Levy, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told China Daily that the G20 provides a regular opportunity for US and Chinese leaders to talk and to try to work through any mutual concerns.

"It does so with somewhat less pressure than a bilateral state visit and it reminds the leaders that US and Chinese actions often have repercussions for the rest of the world. Such meetings always result in claims of success, but sometimes those claims can be merited, thereby justifying the work that goes into preparing the summits," he said.

Contact the writers at wu-jiao@chinadaily.com.cn and tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com