Seoul, March 28 (Asianet/UNB) - South Korea and Indonesia announced Wednesday they will kick off official negotiations to open up trade between the two countries and agreed to hold the first round of talks as early as possible.

The two sides made the announcement on the launch of talks on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), which is equivalent to afree trade agreement, in a joint statement issued after a summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Yudhoyono has been in Seoul to attend the Nuclear Security Summit that concluded two days of meetings on Tuesday.

South Korea and Indonesia held three rounds of preliminarytalks last year under an agreement to conduct a joint study into the possibility of a bilateral free trade pact.