South Korea’s Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan and Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma agreed to seek partnership between Korea’s logistics companies and the Chinese e-commerce giant, Seoul officials said.

The two sides held talks on Wednesday in a follow-up meeting to August last year to reaffirm the partnership between Alibaba and Korea’s small and medium enterprises seeking to make inroads into China.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi met Alibaba chairman Ma ahead of Thursday’s bilateral economic meeting with Xu Shaoshi, chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.

Choi said that since Korea forged free trade agreements with the U.S. and the European Union and is about to sign an FTA with China, Asia’s fourth-largest economy has the potential to become a platform for multinational companies.

He also told Ma that this could provide opportunities for Alibaba.

Ma agreed to consider forging ties with Korean logistics companies, and showed interest in Korean entertainment content producers, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Last August, Alibaba agreed with Korea to hold education and mentoring programs and teach about the Chinese market and consumers to Korea’s SMEs and young entrepreneurs.

The Finance Ministry said the two sides would continue to exert efforts to establish networks between Korean businesses and Chinese e-commerce companies, and create internship programs for next-generation business leaders to learn about China’s e-commerce industry.

Minister Choi and NDRC chairman Xu will meet on Thursday in Beijing to discuss ways to boost bilateral ties in technology exchange and bilateral investment.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)