Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha on Monday stressed the necessity to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation.

Russia and South Korea are about to start official negotiations on the formation of a free trade zone, Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Kang after their talks in Moscow.

Moscow also intends to maintain contacts between South Korea and the Eurasian Economic Union on trade liberalization, he added.

Lavrov said bilateral trade exceeded 24 billion US dollars in 2018 and the accumulated investment of South Korea in Russia has so far reached 2.6 billion dollars.

"We discussed ways to preserve this trend today, naturally, on a reciprocal basis, as Russian investors also look at the South Korean market with interest," he told reporters.

Kang said that both sides have agreed to help elevate bilateral relations to a higher level.

She added that the two parties have agreed to continue cooperation on priority areas such as shipbuilding, the building of port infrastructure, health care, medicine, education, science, technology and innovation.