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| Korea, EU on brink of sealing free trade |
| EU, 13.07.2009 |
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| Korea and the European Union will officially announce today landmark progress in free-trade agreement talks, most likely to confirm their intention to seal the deal within this month.
Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in an interview with a local Swedish media agency on Saturday that he "looked forward to sealing the deal" and "send a strong message to the global community that the current economic crisis can be overcome by expanding international trade."
Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Friday said the two sides are expected to officially announce the conclusion of their protracted negotiations this week, after the trade committee of the European Commission that same day approved the final draft.
The ministry in a statement said Lee and Swedish Prime Minister Fredik Reinfeldt could make the announcement on Monday, after their bilateral summit in Stockholm. Reinfeldt is serving in the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union until the end of this year.
The ministry's statement came soon after the Article 133 Committee, the body responsible for determining the EU's key trade policies, finally agreed on the key sensitive issues, such as duty drawbacks and rules of origin, in the final draft of the FTA deal.
Korea and the 27-member economic bloc in late March reached a provisional accord, which would allow them to eliminate tariffs on goods within five years. But Seoul's request to apply the duty drawback scheme has been a major stickler in the final stage.
The duty drawback system, approved by the World Trade Organization, allows a government to return import tariffs to its local companies that use imported materials to make products for exports.
The European Union has not accepted the duty drawback measure under its existing FTAs with Mexico and Chile.
But experts here say those deals are incomparable to the Korea-EU accord, which concerns a large volume of manufactured goods. They stress that agricultural goods represent a bigger portion for Brussels' trade pacts with Mexico and Chile.
Korean FTA trade officials had said they expected the European Union to reach a decision by May.
Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and his EU counterpart Catherine Ashton failed to finalize the trade deal in London on April 2. Both sides have been seeking a political push to seal the deal.
Following the minister-level meeting, Kim told reporters in London that the duty drawback is a "conflict of principle" rather than a "matter of compromise."
Although Kim on Friday noted there was "wide support" for the proposed deal at the Article 133 Committee meeting in Brussels, he said that more time may be needed before both sides can actually sign the deal.
Experts said the latest advancement is part of last-minute efforts by Seoul to wrap up the FTA, as three EU nations - Italy, Poland and Hungary - were believed to be falling short of giving their full support.
On Friday, President Lee sought to gain Italy's support in a summit with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Friday.
Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in a press release said Berlusconi agreed to work with Lee to help "upgrade the Korea-EU relationship to a strategic partnership by concluding the Korea-EU FTA at an early date as agreed in the Korea-EU summit held in Seoul on May 23."
Korea is the European Union 's eighth-largest trade partner and the economic bloc is Korea's second-largest export market.
As of 2008, Asia's fourth-largest economy posted a $23 billion trade surplus with the European Union. Bilateral trade between Korea and the European Union reached $98.4 billion last year.
Korea shipped $54 billion worth of goods, while it received $40 billion of goods from the European Union.
Both sides began the FTA negotiations in May 2007 with the belief of completing the negotiations in 2008. Striking a trade pact with Korea is of strategic importance to the European Union, not only for economic gains but also for fostering some clout in the Asian region.
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