China, El Salvador to begin free trade talks

To further tap their bilateral economic and trade cooperation potential, China and El Salvador will begin free trade talks as soon as possible and will work together to finish the talks as early as possible, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

The spokesperson made the remarks after being inquired for China's considerations on furthering China-El Salvador economic and trade cooperation following the suspension of El Salvador's free trade agreement with China's Taiwan region.

"Since the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and El Salvador, the two sides have been effectively promoting cooperation in various fields of the economy and trade to achieve fruitful results in accordance with the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries," said the spokesperson in a statement.

"In recent years, trade between the two countries has grown substantially, fully reflecting the resilience and development space of their bilateral economic and trade cooperation," the spokesperson added.

liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn