Korea seeks to exempt 240 agro products from Canada FTA
Korea Herald
Korea seeks to exempt 240 agro products from Canada FTA
By Yoo Soh-jung
4 October 2006
Korea is seeking to exclude 240 agricultural products out of a total of 1,452 from the tariff cut proposals exchanged with Canada during the seventh round of free trade agreement talks, the government said yesterday.
Korea proposed excluding 16.7 percent of the 1,452 listed agricultural products for tariff elimination, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said. The seventh round of talks was held from Sept. 25-28 in Ottawa.
Canada requested for wider market entry for such products as beef, pork, livestock, soybeans, honey, barley and maple syrup. Ottawa, however, expressed the intention of accepting exemptions for rice, ginseng, mushrooms, hot peppers and dairy products.
Agriculture is a sensitive area for Korea, as the highly-protected farming industry opposes market liberalization for fear of losing their livelihood. Seoul is struggling to agree on the time and terms for tariff elimination for sensitive products, particularly in the area of agriculture, with other FTA negotiating partners, such as the United States.
Korea is open to immediate imports of some less sensitive fruits and vegetables, but it generally wants a longer adjustment period.
In the latest round, the two countries continued negotiations on trade in goods, rules of origin, services - including financial services, communications services, and movement of labor - and investment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
Both parties also exchanged second tariff offers on trade in goods and made progress in discussions on services and investment reservations, allowing them to begin full-fledged talks on concessions for liberalization of goods and services, the ministry said.
The eighth round of talks will take place in Seoul in late November. Both countries expect to engage in deeper discussions on tariff offers in goods and reservations on services and investment.
