Officials, experts laud Washington summit

The first official state visit to the United States by President Xi Jinping has been applauded as a great success, despite skepticism expressed by some before the trip.

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg congratulated Xi and US President Barack Obama for making progress in multiple areas of economic cooperation, especially the mutual pledge for continuing discussions to facilitate Chinese currency trading and clearing in the US.

"This will greatly elevate the bilateral relationship, boost bilateral trade, strengthen the competitiveness of US companies and further push forward the US financial industry," Bloomberg said on Friday.