South Korea and China have agreed to speed up their ongoing free trade talks as part of efforts to increase economic cooperation between the neighboring countries.

Both also agreed to intensify cooperation in currency polices, while seeking to increase settlements by using the won and the yuan, according to the South Korea’s ministry of Finance.  The agreements were made at a meeting Thursday between key economic policymakers of the two countries in Beijing. The meeting was the 11th of its kind since they were upgraded to ministerial gatherings in 1999.   During the meeting, South Korean’s Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan emphasized the importance of accelerating FTA talks between the countries and beefing up cooperation in polices related to currency and won-yuan settlement. He also underlined the need to find a new breakthrough for Korea and China, both of whom are being affected by the eurozone fiscal problems.