South Korea and China on Sunday agreed to further expand co-operation to better tackle global economic challenges on the eve of their leaders' summit here, officials said. Strategy and Finance Minister Kang Man-Soo and his Chinese counterpart Zhang Ping held an annual ministers' meeting in the South Korean capital to reach the agreement, Kang's ministry said in a statement.
"As globalisation and bilateral economic co-operation deepen, both countries agreed on the need for policy co-ordination to effectively cope with unstable global economic factors, such as high oil prices," the statement said.
The ministers discussed topics also including investment, the environment, aging societies and co-operation in communications services, it said. China is South Korea's largest trade partner, with two-way trade worth more than 145 billion dollars last year.
Seoul had invested a total of 22.54 billion dollars in China as of end-2007 and the two sides are studying a possible free trade agreement. The meeting came one day before Chinese President Hu Jintao visits South Korea for a summit with President Lee Myung-Bak.
The two first meet one-to-one to discuss North Korea before holding an expanded summit to discuss other issues, including co-operating in economic and trade matters and promoting exchanges, according to Seoul officials.
South Korea will seek China's help in easing inter-Korean tensions and persuading North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons, they said. Ties between the two Koreas are at their lowest ebb for a decade, with official contacts cut off. Six-nation nuclear negotiations chaired by China have also hit a snag. China is a long-standing ally of the impoverished North and a major donor of food and fuel.