SHANGHAI, June 8 (Xinhua) -- China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Friday held the third trilateral high-level dialogue on the Arctic in Shanghai, agreeing on research as priority for cooperation.

The three countries pledged to enhance information exchange, encourage the sharing of data and work on collaborative surveys.

The dialogue was attended by Gao Feng, special representative for Arctic Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Kang Jeong-sik, ambassador for Arctic Affairs of the ROK Foreign Ministry, and Eiji Yamamoto, ambassador in charge of Arctic Affairs of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

They welcomed the first white paper on China's Arctic Policy published in January, and stressed the importance of policy dialogue in mutual understanding and cooperation.

They also welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on the draft agreement to prevent unregulated fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean and pledged to follow up the agreement.

The three Asian countries held their first trilateral talks on the Arctic issues in April in 2016, following the Sixth China-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Summit in 2015.

The ROK will host the fourth dialogue in 2019.