On December 7, the Chief Negotiator Conference of the 14th Round of China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Zone Negotiations was held in Beijing. Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy China International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen, Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yamazaki Kazuyuki and Assistant Minister of Industry, Trade and Resources of Korea Yoo Myung-hee led their delegations respectively and attended the conference. The three parties unanimously agreed to implement the consensus of the leaders of the three countries and accelerate the negotiations on the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Zone.

The three parties all believed that as the negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), which the three parties jointly participated in, made substantive progress, the basis for speeding up the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Zone negotiations is already in place and the three parties will discuss further improving trade and investment liberalization through the China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Zone based on the achievements of the RCEP. The three parties agreed that the next round of negotiations will be held in Japan. The three parties will resume the working group meeting from the next round of negotiations and conduct substantive consultations on issues such as trade in goods, trade in services and investment.

The China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Zone negotiation is one of the free trade zones negotiations that is being promoted by China, involving the largest sizes of economies and accounting for the highest proportion of foreign trade. On November 5, President Xi Jinping pointed out in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo that we will accelerate the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Zone negotiations. The 7th China-Japan-South Korea Leaders' Meeting held in Japan in May this year issued a joint declaration, reaffirming that we will further accelerate the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Zone negotiations and strive to reach a comprehensive, high-level, mutually beneficial and valuable free trade agreement.