Korea, Thailand- rice issue not resolved
Bangkok Post
Korea, Thailand- rice issue not resolved
24 August 2006
Kuala Lumpur (dpa) - Thailand and South Korea failed Thursday to reach an agreement in negotiations into the issue of rice trade between the two nations, impeding the implementation of a regional trade pact between Southeast Asia and Seoul.
Economic ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), who gathered in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, held talks with their South Korean counterpart on Thursday and made a call for both parties to speed up negotiations.
"We hope that Thailand and Korea will continue to talk with each other to resolve some of the issues arising between the two countries," said Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz on the sidelines of the five-day meeting ending Friday.
Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of rice, has refused to join its neighbours in ASEAN in signing a free trade deal with South Korea after Seoul refused to open its rice market.
Rafidah said the implementation of the trade agreement would boost trade and investments between ASEAN and South Korea.
"The challenges in negotiating the two agreements could be overcome with greater understanding of each other’s circumstances ... to move forward the negotiations in services and investment, and bring them to fruition," she told reporters.
Kim Hyun-Chong, the minister of trade for South Korea, pledged continued commitment to working through the negotiations with Thailand to ensure a conclusion.
"We will have to work hard to overcome all this," he said in Kuala Lumpur.
Kim declined to elaborate on the progress of the talks, but admitted that there was an urgency to resolve the issues as other ASEAN members had already inked the agreement.
ASEAN is South Korea’s third largest investment destination, with investments reaching 628 million dollars in 2005.
