South Korean Finance Minister Kwon O-kyu said Wednesday that his government will accelerate the preparation for free trade agreement (FTA) with China and other major trading partners.

South Korea plans to make a quick and prudent decision on beginning FTA talks with China, Australia, New Zealand, and six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kwon said.

China is South Korea's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade volume of 134 billion U.S. dollars last year, compared with 78 billion dollars in annual South Korea-U.S. trade.

South Korea and China are set to begin their second feasibility study in June for the potential deal, Seoul's Trade Ministry said in a statement.

South Korea's state institute estimated that the South Korea- China FTA is expected to boost the South Korea's gross domestic product by 17.9 trillion won (19.3 billion U.S. dollars), exports by 6.5 billion U.S. dollars and imports by 14.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua