The United States and China have agreed to a reciprocal extension of short-term business visas from one year to 10 years,

President Barack Obama announced during a Beijing visit on Monday. The United States will begin issuing visas of the 10-year duration, the maximum length of validity under U.S. law, on Wednesday. U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker in a statement said the change would help the United States meet projections of up to 7.3 million inbound Chinese visitors by 2021, four times the number that visited in 2013.