President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday hailed the signing of a free trade agreement between the two neighbors that could further boost bilateral ties.

The FTA "will bring a wide-range of opportunities and benefits to people and companies of both countries and will become a historic milestone to further deepen our strategic cooperative partnership," Park said in a letter to Xi.

Xi said in his letter to Park that the signing of the FTA will lead to a new takeoff between the two countries and bring substantial benefits to South Korean and Chinese citizens.

The exchange of letters between Park and Xi underscored their commitment to the deal that could help boost bilateral trade.

China is South Korea's largest trade partner. Trade volume between South Korea and China stood at US$290.5 billion since they established diplomatic relations in 1992, according to Chinese data.

China fought on North Korea's side against South Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, but has been economically drawn to South Korea in recent decades.

Park and Xi exchanged the letters through their trade ministers who signed the deal at a Seoul hotel on Monday.

Park met with China's Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and called for joint efforts to conclude domestic procedures for the ratification of the deal.

The deal is subject to parliamentary ratification in both capitals before taking effect.

Also on Monday, Park called on the parliament to quickly ratify the deal with China, describing it as a growth engine for South Korea's economy. (Yonhap)