Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay his first state visit to the United States this month in a bid to boost the steady development of long-term China-U.S. relations.

Hu will visit the United States from April 18 to 21, stopping in Seattle and Washington D.C., and giving a speech at Yale University, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Tuesday.

Hu will meet U.S. President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials for in-depth discussions on China-U.S. relations and other international and regional issues of common concern.

The goal of the visit was to enhance exchanges and mutual trust and expand consensus and cooperation so as to jointly promote constructive and cooperative relations, according to Liu.

"This visit will represent one of the key milestones in the broad and complex undertaking that both countries work together to contribute to international growth and stability in ways that benefit both countries," the U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said earlier.

"The key to Hu's visit lies in whether he will succeed in laying a framework for the steady and positive development of China-U.S. relations," said Yuan Peng, a researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

Both China and the United States were deeply concerned with key international issues over which they had some disputes, friction and differences.

"Hu's visit will be a good opportunity for China and the U.S. to narrow or eliminate the differences," Liu Jianchao said in reply to a question on China-U.S. disputes on trade and protection of intellectual property rights.

Analysts said Hu's visit would help create a better atmosphere for China-U.S. relations which were maturing.

Yuan said Hu would exchange views with U.S. leaders on sensitive, complicated and tricky issues. "The meeting itself is much more significant than reaching a specific agreement."

"China-U.S. relations have gone beyond the era when breakthroughs could only be achieved through a summit meeting," Yuan said.

Since Bush's visit to China last November, a string of senior U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, have followed, laying out a new strategy toward China.

China and the United States have maintained smooth and frequent exchanges through more than 20 strategic or functional dialogue mechanisms, covering trade and economy, military, culture, healthcare, non-traditional security and other fields.

On Tuesday, Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi co-chaired the 17th meeting of the Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Washington with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Trade Representative Rob Portman.

During Wu's visit, entrepreneurs of the two countries signed an array of procurement contracts worth 4.44 billion U.S. dollars, involving 27 projects covering software, power generation equipment, automobiles and electronic products.

Analysts said discussions between Hu and Bush would touch on heated topics as the Taiwan issue, the Korean nuclear issue and the Iranian nuclear standoff.

Hu and U.S. leaders would discuss issues "candidly, equally and with mutual respect", the ministry spokesman said. "I hope and believe that Hu's visit will further boost the development of China-U.S. relations."