President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama agreed to move forward the "new type of major-country relationship" during their phone conversation on Monday night.

The two presidents had the phone call when Xi was in Fortaleza, the Brazilian leg of his four-country visit to South America.

The two leaders have maintained close contact with each other since the "new type of major-country relationship" came to fruition when they met in Annenberg Retreat in California in June last year, and they have exchanged views about the recently concluded sixth Strategic and Economic Dialogue and fifth US-China People-to-People Exchange in Beijing.