Beijing, Mar 1 (IANS): Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has revealed that President Xi Jinping is set to meet his American counterpart Barack Obama soon, the media reported on Tuesday.

The prime minister made the announcement on Monday after he received Jacob Lew, special representative of the US president and the US treasury secretary, in Beijing, the China Daily reported.

The meeting between the two presidents would help improve relations between the two countries, Li said.

The meeting between Xi and Obama will take place after the National People's Congress holds its annual session in Beijing, beginning on Saturday, to decide on the nation's development this year and, more important, its social and economic programme for the next five years.

Wang Yusheng, a researcher at a government think tank in Beijing, said frequent meetings between the leaders would be "most helpful" for bilateral ties.

"Every time a subtle situation seems to emerge in the bilateral relations, a face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two nations will help to sort things out," Wang said, adding that "there are still some uncomfortable areas in Sino-US ties".

Obama and Xi last met at the Paris Climate Summit in December 2015.