South Korea and the United States agreed Friday to expand cooperation in their global economic strategies.

The two sides held the third round of their Senior Economic Dialogue (SED) in Washington led by Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Manisha Singh.

The meeting discussed ways to step up cooperation in view of South Korea's New Southern Policy initiative and U.S. strategies related to the Indo-Pacific region.

The two sides agreed to uncover possible areas of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific such as cyber security and the development of the Mekong River area.

They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in fields of health security, energy and women's economic empowerment as part of an agreement to forge new partnerships that the two countries' leaders agreed to during summit talks in June last year.

Seoul and Washington also agreed to hold the Senior Economic Dialogue annually and signed a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation.

The SED was launched under the Obama administration. The Friday meeting was the first held since new governments took office in both countries.