SEOUL: South Korean government has said that South Korea and Mexico will implement customs pacts this week that can facilitate bilateral trade between the two countries, the government said.
The implementation of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) and Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) will go into effect as of Monday, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) said. The move comes after the two trading partners conducted six months of trial to see if they could implement the AEO and MRA, which were inked in March 2014.
The arrangements call for both sides to speedily clear products from the other country and give priority in customs processing, as well as setting up dedicated contact points to deal with complications in clearance.
The KCS said the implementation brings the total number of countries that South Korea has AEO and MRA with to nine, the highest number among the world’s trading nations. Seoul already has similar agreements in place with countries such as the United States, China, and Japan. “Mexico is one of South Korea’s top trading nations, but because of complicated customs requirements there was some delay in customs processing that hurt the competitiveness of importers and exports alike,” the KSC said. It added that with the implementation of the agreements some 60 percent of exports will benefit from speedy clearance.
As of last year, Mexico was South Korea’s 10th largest export destination. Outbound shipments reached US$10.84 billion with imports topping $3.27 billion.
South Korea mostly shipped out consumer electronics, optics, cars and steel products, while importing raw minerals, crude oil and coal.
