SEOUL: South Korea and China have started their free trade agreement, taking a step closer to implementing what South Korean officials hail as the most significant trade deal for the country.
The initialing came about three months after the two countries concluded their FTA negotiations that began in May 2012. The agreement, currently written only in English, will be translated into the two parties’ native languages before it is officially signed. “The two countries’ governments have agreed to work for official signing of the Korea-China FTA within the first half of 2015,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release.
The free trade pact requires approval from the countries’ respective legislatures for implementation. “The government will do its utmost to have the agreement ratified by the National Assembly without any disruption so that our companies can start benefiting from the Korea-China FTA at an early date,” the ministry said. Some new and positive elements have been added to the agreement since the conclusion of negotiations on Nov. 10, Woo Tae-hee, South Korea’s deputy trade minister, said at a press briefing.
Following its implementation, the Korea-China FTA is expected to help boost the countries’ annual bilateral trade to over $300 billion, a 39.5 percent hike from $215.1 billion in 2012. Also, South Korea’s trade territory, represented by the combined gross domestic product of countries with which South Korea has a free trade pact, will grow to 73 percent of global GDP from the current 61 percent.
