Global Biz

S Korea-EU FTA likely to be inked by April

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-10 16:21

SEOUL - South Korea seeks to reach the final stage of sealing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union by the end of April, the trade ministry said Wednesday.

"We are aiming at formally sealing the deal in end-April, which we are now in discussion with the EU board directors," Lee Hye-min, Seoul's Deputy Minister for Trade, said in a press briefing.

Lee, scheduled to fly to Paris Friday for a meeting with his EU counterpart, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, where he is to fix the date.

"At the moment my goal is to confirm the exact date to sign the contract at the Paris meeting, but there may be contingencies and there is a possibility the signing process will be delayed one or two weeks," Lee added.

According to Lee, the meeting will be followed by talks between South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht on Monday.

Wrapping of two-year-long negotiations, South Korean and the EU initialed the final text of the trade deal in October this year.

The agreement needs to be approved by South Korea's National Assembly and the heads of the EU's 27-member states before taking effect.

The bilateral pact, the EU's first free trade deal with an Asian country if approved, will boost the two-way trade by 20 percent, the South Korean government has predicted.

The South Korea's economy in general will also experience advantages, with exports expanding by $11 billion and its economic growth climbing by more than 3 percent, the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) said.

The institute also forecast that a job-creation of over 600,000 is expected through the pact.

The EU was South Korea's second-biggest trading partner after China and its largest foreign investor in 2008.