BEIJING, Sept. 4 -- Negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between China and the United Stateshave made significant progress, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Sunday.

The two sides held their 28th round of BIT talks in Beijing from August 21-28 and continued consultations from August 29 to September 3, where both sides exchanged new "negative list" offers, with the common goals of establishing non-discrimination, and transparent and open investment through negotiations, said MOC spokesperson Sun Jiwen.

They conducted in-depth talks on the remaining issues in the agreement text and reached a consensus on important issues, said Sun. Both sides will continue intensive talks to advance negotiations and work to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, said Sun.

China and the United States started BIT negotiations in 2008 to increase mutual investment.

In June 2015, both sides started negotiations on a negative list. The negative list define sectors that remain off-limits to each other's investments.