China and Peru on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding in Lima to conduct a feasibility study on upgrading the China-Peru Free Trade Agreement, the Ministry of Commerce said today.

Eager to further diversify their trade categories, the governments of China and Peru sealed the FTA deal in 2009. Bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $16.02 billion in 2015, double that of the year before they signed the FTA, the ministry said in an online statement.

China has already become Peru's biggest trade partner and export market by goods volume. Peru is China's fifth largest trade partner in Latin America.

The ministry said upgrading the agreement will help develop a modern service sector and increase financial cooperation between the two countries.