Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan led a delegation to visit ROK and chaired the 21th China-ROK Joint Commission on Economic and Trade together with ROK’s Second Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul on April 20. The two sides exchanged views and conducted frank talks on issues of common concern and reached extensive consensus in trade and economic areas.

Both sides agreed that over recent years, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have had frequent meetings with President Park Geun-hye and reached a series of major consensus, promoting the overall, extensive and multi-layered China-ROK cooperation relations and raising the bilateral ties, especially the trade and economic relations, to a higher step. With the common concern and personal efforts of country leaders of both sides, the China-ROK FTA has officially come into force and tariff has been reduced twice. It has brought real benefits to people of both sides and made active contribution to the East Asia and Asia-Pacific regional economic integration and even the global economic development.

The two sides will continue to support each other, further implement the major consensus reached by the country leaders of both sides, make active effort to dock the development strategies of both countries, jointly build the China-ROK industrial parks, establish China-ROK investment cooperation fund, jointly expand the third party market, genuinely fulfill China-ROK FTA, make joint efforts to promote trade facilitation and regional economic integration and push the bilateral trade and economic cooperation to move forward.

The meeting passed the China-ROK Mid-to-Long Term Development Plan on Economic Cooperation and Trade（2016-2020）.