BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have made "substantial progress" in the second phase of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

The two sides have held nine rounds of formal negotiations so far, and recently reached a consensus on pushing forward follow-up negotiations, ministry spokesperson Shu Jueting told a press conference.

China is willing to work with the ROK to reach a mutually beneficial agreement at an early date, and push bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level, the spokesperson said.

Since a bilateral FTA was signed in 2015, the two countries have cut tariffs eight times.

Despite setbacks in global economic recovery, China-ROK trade has maintained a rapid pace of growth. The bilateral trade volume reached 184.25 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, up 9.4 percent year on year, Shu said.