The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province will build an international maritime passage to facilitate trade between China and South Korea, the city's commerce bureau said on Feb 26.

Qingdao will take advantage of its port resources to create an international maritime passage between China and South Koreain an effort to increase regional economic and trade cooperation with the country under the latest Free Trade Agreement (FTA) framework, said officials with the Qingdao commerce bureau.

China and South Korea have recently initialed their free trade agreement (FTA) to wrap up latest FTA negotiations, China's Ministry of Commerce announced on Feb 25 on its website.

South Korea is Qingdao's second largest trade partner. In 2014, the total trade volume between Qingdao city and South Korea alone amounted to $9.01 billion, a 6 percent year-on-year increase.

The country is also the second largest contributor in foreign investments in Qingdao. South Korea funded 248 projects in Qingdao in 2014, with contractual investmentstotalling at $1.14 billion, representing a 5.5 percent annual increase 2013

China and South Korea began their FTA talks in May 2012, and a substantive conclusion of the negotiations was confirmed by presidents of both countries in Beijing in November 2014.

The FTA deal will cover 17 areas, including goods and services, investment and trade rules, e-commerce and government procurement, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The agreement will likely take effect in the second half of the year, the Xinhua added.

Edited by Mevlut Katik