China will invest 45 billion yuan ($7.1 billion) over the next five years to expand Dandong port, a key trade link to isolated North Korea, state news agency Xinhua has reported.

Dandong, which lies on the North Korean border, will be able to handle more than 100 million tonnes of freight annually once the expansion is complete, compared with 60 million tonnes at present, according to a government statement.

The Dadong expansion project will “cement its role as a transport hub in Northeast Asia that connects the Korean Peninsula with Eurasia,” said Xinhua.

China has sought to draw North Korea closer with incentives, and bilateral trade hit $3.1 billion in the first seven months of 2011, an 87% increase from the same period last year, according to Chinese customs statistics.

North Korea announced in June it would work with Beijing to make the Rason economic zone work on the east coast, along with a similar zone in the west at Hwanggumpyong island near Dandong.