European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (right) and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The two sides said they hope the discussion will end up in an agreement.

If an agreement is reached by early next week, the British government will submit it to Parliament for approval before Christmas. After officially leaving the EU on January 31, the UK began a 1-year transition to discuss a new trade agreement with the EU, its trade partner with a bilateral exchange worth nearly 1 trillion USD per year. Failure to reach an agreement before the December 31 deadline is expected to cause disruption and economic loss for both sides, for which the UK is forecast to suffer more.