China and Iceland held a first round of talks on a feasibility study on building free trade zones in China, sources with the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.

 

During the two-day talks held in Beijing March 14-15, the two sides reached an accord on a series of issues concerning the feasibility study and discussed other aspects of common concern.

 

Iceland is the first developed European country to conduct a feasibility study with China on building free trade zones, the sources said.

 

Over the past years, economic and trade ties between China and Iceland have developed fast and bilateral trade volume has been growing.

 

Last May, the two nations signed a memorandum of understanding on strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

 

The second round of talks is expected to be held in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, in the later half of this year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2006)