The governor of China’s Liaoning province met with a top North Korean economic official in Pyongyang late last week, where a local party newspaper said the two agreed to boost exchanges in trade, “personnel,” tourism, and other areas.

The trip to North Korea for the leader of China’s key bordering province comes ahead of a deadline to repatriate DPRK workers abroad, and as questions continue to be raised over China’s commitment to sanctions enforcement on Pyongyang.