Seoul to lead study on East Asia FTA
Korea Herald | 25 Feb 2010
Seoul to lead study on East Asia FTA
By Kim Yoon-mi
The government said yesterday Korea would take the initiative in discussions on integrating the East Asian economies and push for a trilateral free trade agreement between Korea, China and Japan.
"The three nations will have the first meeting of business executives, government officials and academics to set the schedule for a trilateral FTA this year. But this will not take a short time," Vice Finance Minister Hur Kyung-wook told reporters in Gwacheon. Hur attended a weekly economic policy meeting in Seoul earlier in the day.
The meeting, chaired by President Lee Myung-bak, discussed the economic issues of the president’s summit diplomacy in the past two years and future plans. Lee marked the second anniversary of his office yesterday.
"The government has commissioned a report to a think tank to analyze the merits and demerits of a trilateral FTA among the three Eastern nations," Hur said.
As Korea has the unique experience of progressing from a recipient to a donor of international aid within a generation, the nation will share its development know-how with developing countries, government officials said.
Seoul plans to expand its economic policy advisory service by increasing the number of advisory-reciepient countries from the current four countries - Vietnam, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Cambodia - to seven countries in 2011, and 10 countries in 2012, they said.
"We will not only share our success but our failures. Although we will provide aid initially, we will also learn from them (recipient countries)," Hur said.
President Lee also stressed the need for "partnership diplomacy."
"With integrity in mind, we should seek a partnership diplomacy which would create mutual benefits in the international community. One-way diplomacy doesn’t work anymore," Lee was quoted by his spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye as saying.
Lee added that the diplomatic sector should diversify the pool of diplomats with different experiences like civilians and officials from different ministries.
To boost economic-related summit diplomacy, Knowledge Economy Ministry will enhance incentives to Japanese companies to help them enter the Parts and Materials Complexes in six cities in Korea, the government said.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs will help Korean companies win large-scale railway and canal projects overseas, it said.
