Korea-ASEAN FTA talks in final stage
Korea Times, 11 September 2005
Korea-ASEAN FTA Talks in Final Stage
By Seo Jee-yeon
Staff Reporter
South Korea is expected to conclude free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) within the year as the fifth round of FTA talks between the two sides have shown significant progress, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Sunday.
The two countries have laid the foundation for the trade pact in goods by reaching a comprehensive agreement on the draft during the fifth round of the FTA talks held in Seoul Sept. 6-9,'' the ministry said in a statement.
Under the draft, Korea and ASEAN allegedly agreed to liberalize about 90 percent of the goods in trade.The two sides, however, have yet to narrow differences on issues such as the scope and timeline of goods liberalization and protective measures,’’ the statement said.
The next round of the FTA talks will focus on narrowing the differences.
We aim to iron out the issues during the ASEAN Economy Minister's meeting in Laos on Sept. 29,'' a ministry official said.
Korea and ASEAN also agreed to insert a safeguard provision in the draft to protect their own industries from excessive imports that could cause market disruption.
Korea has pushed for the FTA with ASEAN in goods ahead of the trade pact in investment and services to secure the nation's fourth largest export market. The ministry said it will seek an FTA with ASEAN in investment and services next year.
Korea's competitors have stepped up forming a trade pact with ASEAN. The China-ASEAN FTA in goods went into effect in July, while Japan started FTA talks with ASEAN last April. India is also pushing for an FTA with ASEAN.It is not an easy work to create an FTA with ASEAN with 10 member countries having different levels of development. We had no choice but to meet the deadline to secure one of the important export markets,’’ the official said.
If Korea signs the FTA with ASEAN, it would be the nation’s third FTA. The Korea-Chile FTA was enforced last April and the Korea-Singapore FTA is waiting for ratification by the National Assembly.
