Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank October 23, 2018. Abbas Momani/Pool via Reuters

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has signed a free trade agreement memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Palestine, China’s commerce ministry said on Wednesday in a statement posted on its official website.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) said the MOU was signed by the country’s vice commerce minister Qian Keming and Palestinian Minister of the National Economy Abeer Odeh, during Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan’s visit to Palestine.

Both sides agreed to step up negotiations and try and reach an early agreement, according to MofCom.

In 2017, the bilateral trade volume between China and Palestine hit $69.28 million, up 16.2 percent compared to the same year-ago period.