Senior trade officials of South Korea and China discussed ways Wednesday to enhance exchanges and cooperation on supply chains, bilateral trade and investment and to create favorable business circumstances, Seoul’s trade ministry said.
The discussions were made during a meeting between South Korea’s Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin and Li Fei, China’s assistant minister of commerce, in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
It was the first high-level trade talks between the two neighboring countries since June 2019.
During the meeting, Jeong asked for China’s cooperation to stabilize supplies of raw materials, parts and other items and to help South Korean companies do business “under predictable circumstances,” the ministry said.
He also called for China’s active role in expediting follow-up negotiations on service and investment fields under their Free Trade Agreement.
The Chinese official said his country will actively make efforts to help ensure South Korean firms’ stable business management in China and to resolve their difficulties, according to the ministry.
Bilateral trade hit an all-time high of US$310.4 billion last year, up 3 percent from a year earlier, government data showed.
Source: Yonhap News Agency