South Korea and Cambodia officially launched free trade negotiations in a conference call Thursday between Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak.

The two countries agreed to push for a bilateral free trade agreement(FTA) during summit talks in March last year.

Seoul's trade chief said cooperation with Southeast Asian nations has become more important since COVID-19 and Cambodia has high potential to grow into a production and trade hub within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN).

She said the trade deal will serve to raise Korean firms' competitiveness in the Cambodian market and strengthen bilateral economic cooperation.

The two sides are set to speed up the talks to produce results within this year. The first round of negotiations is scheduled for this month.

Cambodia has been posting around seven percent annual growth since 2011 and is a demographically "young" country with people aged 35 and younger accounting for 72 percent of the population.