South Korea and Japan are the top two trade partners for the city of Qingdao, its mayor told the Organization for East Asia Economic Development (OEAED) during a meeting on Nov 24 in Qingdao.

This is the fourth OEAED meeting and the first year to be held in Qingdao.

The organization consists of 10 member cities from three East Asian countries.

Mayor Xia Geng told the 150 representatives present that the meeting is crucial for increased regional cooperation among the cities, all of which are on the Yellow Sea, and for increased free trade among their countries.

The participants, who include mayors of the member cities and trade organization officials, have been talking about manufacturing, environment, tourism and logistics-related issues.

Tsurukawa Hiroshi, the mayor of Fukuoka, Japan, supported this view of the positive role Shandong Peninsula in promoting Chinese, Japanese and South Korean cooperation.

Tsurukawa said he hopes the meeting will make substantial progress in increasing the cooperation among the three countries.

The members have also signed an "Active Cooperation in Trade, Investment and Other Needs (ACTION) around the Yellow Sea" memorandum and announced the "Qingdao Declaration".

The OEAED was founded in 2004 to improve economic development in East Asia along with manufacturing, tourism, environmental protection, and logistics.

The member cities are China's Tianjin, Qingdao, Dalian and Yantai; Japan's Kitakyushu, Shimonoseki, and Fukuoka; and the Republic of Korea's Busan, Inchon, and Ulsan.

The meeting is held every two years in one of the 10 member cities, on a rotating basis.