South Korea and the EU yesterday declared the formal launch of free trade talks to combine Asia's third-largest economy and the world's largest trading bloc.
The first round of talks opens in Seoul today, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and South Korean Minister of State Kim Hyun-chong said in a joint news conference.
The negotiations, if concluded, would create a bilateral free-trade area where two-way trade reached almost US$80 billion last year.
PHOTO: EPA
The 27-member EU remains the biggest foreign investor in South Korea, investing US$4.97 billion last year alone, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.
The EU was South Korea's second-largest trading partner after China last year, with trade reaching US$78.56 billion, according to the ministry.
The EU's 2005 economy totalled US$13.5 trillion, bigger than the US' GDP of US$12.5 trillion, according to the IMF.
The two ministers called "for rapid progress in the FTA [free-trade agreement] negotiations," in a joint statement, as Seoul officials said they hoped to conclude the deal within one year.
An FTA "would open new markets and expand opportunities for Korean and EU businesses while giving valuable momentum to the liberalization of global trade," the statement said.
South Korea is hoping to boost exports of cars, microchips, electronic goods and textiles to the EU.
Seoul officials also say they expect a free trade pact with the EU to help alleviate a trade deficit with Japan, from which South Korean electronics firms now import many of their high-tariff parts and machinery.
Mandelson said yesterday the EU was pushing for an "ambitious and balanced" pact with South Korea, addressing not only liberalizing goods and services but also removing various non-tariff issues for its investors.
He also said for the EU to launch the trade talks with South Korea signified a shift to fast-growing Asia.
"For the EU, it represents a turning towards a stronger focus on Asia," Mandelson told reporters at the media conference.
His South Korean counterpart Kim said his country would eventually serve as "an FTA hub in Northeast Asia" for the world.
"The opening of our market is not a matter of choice but a matter of survival," Kim said in a strongly worded commitment to South Korea's liberalization.
South Korea wrapped up an FTA with the US last month. It has also signed FTAs with Chile and Singapore and one with ASEAN, excluding Thailand, will take effect on June 1.
It is reportedly close to a pact with Canada and in June is set to begin a second feasibility study with China on a potential deal.
Seoul officials have said they expect the EU-South Korean free-trade negotiations to exclude such sensitive areas as rice or film markets.
"As the chief negotiator for South Korea, I would like to conclude a deal with the EU within a year," Deputy Trade Minister Kim Han-soon was quoted by Yonhap as saying on Saturday.
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday said it disqualified a person from an entrance examination for using AI smart glasses to cheat, along with two others for making untruthful statements in their curriculum vitae. The three applicants were given null scores, Taiwan’s highest-ranked university said, calling on prospective students to be honest in the admissions process. NTU registrar Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said that the cheating applicant wore a hat and thick-rimmed glasses to the second written exam for medical school, claiming that they felt cold. Suspicions were aroused when the applicant stared oddly at the test for long stretches while steadily bringing the paper
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
Heavy rain is expected to affect parts of Taiwan this week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday as a meteorologist said the active part of the annual plum rain season has started. A stationary plum rain front and southwesterly winds would bring unstable weather and abundant moisture to Taiwan from today for about a week, with the heaviest rainfall forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, the CWA said. The agency said western and northeastern Taiwan, and mountainous areas in the east and southeast, could expect showers or thunderstorms on those two days, with localized heavy rain possible. Other parts of
RSS