China, Japan, S Korea agree to boost trade cooperation

TOKYO -- Trade ministers from China, Japan and South Korea agreed on Saturday to strengthen trade and economic cooperation between the three neighbors.

The meeting, held ahead of a China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit, saw the ministers discussing a number of issues, including implementing the G20 Summit outcome and conducting practical economic cooperation.

As the world economic recovery remained fragile and anemic, the three major economies in East Asia should implement the consensus reached between their leaders, give full play to their industrial complementarity, and further promote investment and trade, so as to contribute to the steady economic growth in Asia, said Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng.

Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko, for his part, said the three countries reached consensus on jointly advancing economic structural reform. He believed the meeting's outcome will promote regional and global economic growth.

South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung Hwan said the three sides reached consensus on establishing a trilateral cooperation framework as well as speeding up the negotiations on a trilateral free trade deal and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The three sides also reiterated in a joint statement their commitment to implement the outcome at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, and emphasized the importance of the G20 Strategy for Global Trade Growth and the G20 Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking.

China has proposed to conduct industrial capacity cooperation in a third-party country under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasia Initiative, jointly explore a fourth-party market, and collectively promote sub-regional cooperation and development.

The three sides also approved a joint research report on solidifying their supply chain connectivity, and agreed to develop an open world economy, improve the multilateral trade system and promote regional economic integration.