South Korea and China announced Wednesday the start of free trade negotiations,
setting in motion a process to tear down trade barriers between two of Asia's
biggest economies.
South Korean Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho said in a
press briefing held in Beijing that the first round of talks on a bilateral free
trade agreement (FTA) will be held later this month.
Earlier on
Wednesday, Bark held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming in
Beijing, exchanging views over the possible agreement between the neighboring
countries.
China is South Korea's largest trading partner, with
bilateral trade expected to reach US$300 billion by 2015.
The
announcement came four months after the leaders of the two trading partners
agreed to kick off free trade talks at an early date.
Since 2008,
South Korea and China had held a series of joint feasibility studies on a
possible free trade deal and exchanged views on sensitive issues.
Agriculture and fisheries are considered to be the most sensitive sectors of the
South Korean economy, while China categorizes its manufacturing industries,
which include the automobile, machinery and oil sectors, as sensitive.
The
two sides have not set a timeline for striking the deal, South Korean officials
said.
However, Chen, the Chinese minister of commerce, said he hopes a
bilateral deal will be finalized within two years.
South Korean
officials added that South Korea and China have agreed to consider allowing
preferential tariffs on goods produced in designated outward processing zones.
South Korea has an outside industrial complex in the North Korean city of
Kaesong, across the border.
South Korea has major free trade pacts
with the U.S. and the European Union (EU). It also has similar pacts with Chile,
Singapore, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and India.
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