Port Moresby, Nov 17 (IANS): Chinese President Xi Jinping met his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in here on Saturday, calling for deepening the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries and strengthening communication on the Korean peninsula issue.

The consensus that was reached between the two heads of state had been implemented effectively over the past year and the bilateral ties had steadily improved and developed, Xi told Moon on the sidelines of the 26th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.

On the Korean Peninsula issue, Xi said that the situation on the peninsula had shown positive changes over the past year and the issue had gone back to the right track of dialogue and consultation.

He urged the two countries to continuously deepen their strategic cooperative partnership and jointly make positive contributions to lasting peace and prosperity in the region, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi called for greater efforts from both sides to jointly promote the Belt and Road Initiative, accelerate the second-phase negotiations of the bilateral free trade agreement and optimize and upgrade their mutually beneficial cooperation.

He also proposed that the two sides strengthen coordination and cooperation within multilateral frameworks such as APEC, G20 and the China-Japan-South Korea trilateral meetings.

Moon said relations with China were now showing a trend of quick recovery, with exchanges and cooperation in various areas picking up markedly.

Currently, the Korean Peninsula situation is at a crucial stage, the Chinese leader said, noting that Beijing and Seoul should enhance communication and coordinate with each other to advance the process of denuclearization and push for the establishment of a peace mechanism on the peninsula.