Two senior U.S. officials on Tuesday praised the International Energy Agency's (IEA) inclusion of China as its association country at its recent minister-level meeting.

"I think the inclusion of China and China's interest in deepening its partnership with the agency is a real win-win for both sides," Mary Warlick, principal deputy assistant secretary at the State Department's Energy Resources Bureau, told Xinhua at a Foreign Press Center briefing in Washington, D.C..

Calling China "a very important partner," another U.S. official, Jonathan Elkind, assistant secretary for international affairs at the Energy Department, said that it "provides an opportunity for China to gain the benefit of closer, more intimate engagement" with IEA experts and participate in the many different IEA committees and working parties.

"China has a great significance in what is going on in energy markets," Elkind said. "It is the largest energy consumer, the largest oil importer, the largest coal consumer. So, it is, in every respect, in all parts of the energy sector, a very dynamic player and one with which the IEA community, including the United States, wants to foster closer relations."

Both Warlick and Elkind just returned from leading the U.S. delegation to the 2015 IEA ministerial meeting, held in Paris on Nov. 17-18, during which China, Indonesia and Thailand activated their association status.

The IEA was established in 1974, in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis to help its members respond to major oil supply disruptions. It currently has 29 member countries including the United States, all of which are members of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.

The "association country" is a new term introduced by the IEA, which adds to the traditional division of "member country" and "non-member country" in a bid to develop "close cooperative working relationships with major energy-consuming nations" including China.

"When the IEA was founded 40 years ago, the member countries at that time represented a far bigger proportion of energy consumption globally than is the case today," Warlick said.

"With the inclusion of additional countries into the agency's activities, I think it's a real recognition of the changing scene of global energy consumption and trends today and all a part of taking a hard look at what needs to be done to modernize the IEA to reflect current realities," she added.