S.Korea, Japan and China to speed up trade accord
AFP | 30 May 2010
S.Korea, Japan and China to speed up trade accord
SEOGWIPO, South Korea — South Korea, Japan and China agreed Sunday to speed up an investment accord and research on a trilateral free trade pact.
The announcement came after a summit of South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the South Korean resort island of Jeju.
"By 2012, we will endeavor to complete the joint study for a free trade agreement among China, Japan, and South Korea," the leaders said in a joint statement.
The three countries agreed at their summit in 2009 to push for research on the free trade pact aimed at eventually creating a single economic bloc.
Last weekend, the trade ministers of South Korea, China and Japan confirmed they would complete a feasibility study within two years on creating a free trade bloc grouping their three countries.
The three leaders also called for the early conclusion of a trilateral accord on investment and agreed to establish a cooperation secretariat in Seoul next year.
South Korea has for years been in separate free trade talks with China and Japan, but with little progress.
Seoul and Beijing agreed Friday to hold preliminary talks on sensitive sectors such as agriculture before starting full-fledged negotiations on a free trade pact.
China has emerged as South Korea’s largest trading partner, absorbing some 24 percent of its total exports in 2009.
South Korea has been actively pushing for free-trade agreements worldwide to bolster its export-dominated economy.
It already has such agreements with Chile, Singapore, India, the European Free Trade Association and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
A free-trade pact was signed with the European Union in October 2009 and awaits ratification. A deal signed with the United States in 2007 is also awaiting ratification.
