The 24th Session of the China-ROK Joint Trade and Economic Commission was held in Qingdao, Shandong province on August 1st, co-chaired by Li Chenggang, Assistant Minister of Commerce of China and Lee Seong-ho, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs of South Korea. It was the first in-person meeting between Chinese and foreign trade officials since COVID-19 started. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views and reached broad consensus on ways to promote bilateral trade and economic ties and regional and multilateral economic cooperation in the context of normalized epidemic containment.

Li Chenggang, Assistant Minister of Commerce of China said that under the leadership, deployment and instructions of President Xi, China has achieved significant strategic outcomes of epidemic control, with our economy trending towards steady growth. Since COVID-19 broke out, President Xi and President Moon had two phone calls and exchanged correspondence to express sympathy and support. As a reflection of friendship, the two countries have made generous donations to each other, helped and supported each other through thick and thin. China and the ROK were the first to launch the “fast-tack lanes” for essential business travels, effectively contributing to resumption of work and production and stability of industrial and supply chains for both sides. This meeting is China’s first face-to-face intergovernmental meeting under the trade and economic cooperation mechanism held in China with a foreign party since the pandemic began, which fully demonstrates the two countries’ highly effective response to COVID-19 and the high level of cooperation and mutual trust between the two sides. This will make a special chapter for the history of China-ROK trade and economic relations. China is willing to tighten coordination with the ROK, work together to map out the future cooperation on trade and economic fronts in the post-pandemic era, push forward major bilateral cooperation projects, and bring the trade and economic relations to a new height.

Lee Seong-ho, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs of the ROK pointed out the significance of holding the 24th Session of the Joint Committee during this special period. The ROK and China are important economic and trading partners for each other. Since the pandemic broke out, the two governments worked together to help companies of both sides resume work and production, stabilize industrial and supply chains and achieved remarkable progress. The “fast-track lanes” between China and the ROK have played a positive role. The ROK is willing to step up communication, expand commercial exchanges with China, so as to create favorable conditions to put bilateral trade and economic cooperation back on track and pursue further development.

The two sides agreed to strengthen international cooperation on fighting COVID-19, enhance the alignment and cooperation between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and ROK New Southern and Northern policies, and work together on the formulation of the Joint Plan for Bilateral Economic and Trade Cooperation (2021 to 2025). In addition to advancing the second phase of talks on the China-ROK Free Trade Agreement, they agreed to deepen trade and investment cooperation and economic cooperation at local level, step up communication and coordination under regional and multilateral frameworks, push for the timely signing of RCEP and the negotiations on the China-Japan-ROK Free Trade Agreement to support the multilateral trading system and the building of an open world economy.