Seoul, Nov 1 (EFE).– Leaders from South Korea, China and Japan wrapped up their first summit in three years in Seoul on Sunday, vowing to end long-running territorial and other disputes, and urging North Korea to avoid staging nuclear and missile tests.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in the summit’s declaration to “guarantee peace, stability and prosperity in the region in a permanent form, and to continue moving forward without hesitation on trilateral cooperation.”

The declaration includes a commitment to normalize the eroded bilateral ties between Japan and the other two Asian powers to “overcome the current situation in which economic interdependence and political and security tensions co-exist.”

“Normalization in the system of cooperation among the three parties is a great step toward peace and prosperity in northeastern Asia,” the South Korean president said.

The three countries have been engaged in ongoing disputes over islands in the Pacific and the legacy of Japanese colonialism in the region.

Earlier in the day, Li told South Korean business leaders that China’s economy would continue to grow at a high level and rejected forecasts of a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

“There’s no reason to be concerned despite some bumps and minor impacts,” Li said.

Beijing’s No. 2 man told the business leaders that China’s economy would continue growing at approximately 7 percent in the next two years. EFE