Seoul, Beijing to hold talks on trade cooperation

South Korea and China are set to hold talks this week on ways to boost their trade cooperation, which includes signing a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), the South Korean government said Wednesday. The bilateral talks will be held in Beijing on Thursday, involving senior officials from the countries' commerce ministries, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "This meeting follows the memorandum of understanding on boosting trade cooperation between South Korea and China that was signed at the Korea-China summit in June, in which the countries agreed to hold talks on trade cooperation once or twice a year," the ministry said in a press release. At Thursday's meeting, the two sides will evaluate their bilateral trade relations and discuss ways to further boost their cooperation, it added. South Korea and China have already held seven rounds of negotiations for a bilateral FTA, reaching an agreement on the level of market liberalization, often the most sensitive issue in FTA talks, in the seventh round held in Beijing earlier this month. "The ministry plans to link the trade cooperation talks with Korea-China FTA negotiations to help remove non-tariff barriers and other problems facing our firms engaged in trade or investment activities in China," the ministry said.