Chinese President Hu Jintao attends the welcome ceremony held by Roh Moo-hyun, president of the Republic of Korea, in Seoul, capital of the Republic of Korea, on Nov. 16, 2005.

After concluding his trip to three European countries -- Britain, Germany and Spain, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in the South Korean capital of Seoul on Wednesday for a state visit to push forward bilateral relations.

In Seoul, Hu Jintao is expected to meet with his South Korean counterpart, Roh Moo-hyun, and other leaders on the further development of the comprehensive cooperative partnership, established between the two countries in 2003.

Economic and trade cooperation between China and South Korea has expanded steadily since the two Asian countries set up diplomatic relations in 1992. The annual bilateral trade volume grew by 27 percent on average during the past 12 years, jumping from 5 billion US dollars in 1992 to 90 billion dollars in 2004.

Trade between the two neighbors is expected to exceed 100 billion dollars this year.

China is South Korea's largest trade partner and South Korea China's fourth largest.

On Thursday, Hu Jintao will fly to Busan for the Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) slated for Nov. 18-19.

The theme of the Busan meeting is "Towards One Community: Meet the Challenge, Make the Change." The theme summarizes the strenuous will of APEC member economies to achieve the vision to build one "economic community" in the Asia-Pacific region.