China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Friday agreed to start negotiations on a free trade area (FTA) as soon as possible.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the visiting ROK President Roh Moo-hyun exchanged views on starting the FTA negotiations and on revising the agreement on protecting the two-way trade during their 40-minute meeting, according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The trade volume between the two countries hit 100 billion U.S. dollars last year, according to official statistics.

Wen and Roh also discussed how to carry out medium and long-term trade cooperation, focusing on environmental protection, energy preservation and high-tech cooperation.

They pledged to promote trade facilitation, expand mutual investment and bring economic cooperation to a new level.

Wen and Roh also hailed the recent efforts to improve the relations between China, ROK and Japan, saying the strong ties are in the common interests of the three countries.

This is Roh's second visit to China since he took office in 2003. Roh paid a state visit to China in July 2003.

Source: Xinhua