South Korea, China renew $48.9 billion currency swap deal

Seoul, Nov 1 (IANS) South Korea and China signed an agreement on Saturday to renew their currency swap deal worth 70 trillion won ($48.9 billion) for another five years, the presidential office said.

The deal between the central banks of both countries was signed alongside six other memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on the sidelines of President Lee Jae Myung's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, reports Yonhap news agency.

The previous Korean won-Chinese yuan swap agreement, with the same amount and a five-year term, expired last month.

"The currency swap deal is expected to help stabilize financial and foreign exchange markets and promote trade between the two nations." the office said in a release.

The two sides also signed an MOU on strengthening exchanges and services and trade.

"It will lay the institutional foundation for economic cooperation through substantive progress in Korea-China free trade agreement negotiations on services and investment," the office said.

In addition, the two nations signed an MOU on a joint economic cooperation plan for 2026-2030, the office said, noting it would set a long-term direction for promoting mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.

Other agreements included bilateral cooperation to combat voice phishing and online scam crimes between police, the joint promotion of a startup partnership program and phytosanitary requirements for the export of fresh Korean persimmons to China.

Jinping departed for home following a three-day visit to South Korea where he attended a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The Chinese leader arrived in South Korea on Thursday for his first visit to the country in 11 years. The same day, he held a closely watched summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Busan and the two sides agreed to take steps to ease the trade war between their countries.

--IANS

na/