South Korea and Russia will hold talks in Vladivostok this week to devise ways to expand industrial cooperation and trade, the government said Wednesday.

The meeting set for Thursday will touch on such areas as automobiles, shipbuilding and product certification, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.

Both sides will also exchange views on the sharp drop in trade this year, it added.

Shipment of goods from Asia's fourth-largest economy to Russia came to $3.2 billion in the first eight months of this year, down from $7.7 billion the year before. For all of 2014, South Korea exported $10.1 billion in goods to Russia.

"South Korean negotiators, in particular, will take issue with Moscow's decision to change tariff rules on refrigerators, the recent increase in products being checked by customs, and a rise in certification costs," it said.

Besides trade, the government will express its wish to promote closer ties with the Eurasian Economic Union. The economic union launch in January was created by Russia and includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan as member states.

The two sides will also discuss ways to merge Russia's know-how in basic sciences with South Korea's commercial production prowess in such areas as cars and shipbuilding.

Seoul and Moscow have been holding working-level industrial cooperation talks since 1999. (Yonhap)