Trade ministers from China, Japan and South Korea met yesterday to discuss issues including a possible three-way free trade agreement, amid worries over the world economy sparked by Europe’s debt crisis.
South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming (陳德銘) and Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki Naoshima began one day of talks at a Seoul hotel with handshakes.
The three countries, which represent 18.6 percent of the global economy as measured by GDP, have been holding regular trilateral meetings at the trade minister level since 2002, South Korea said.
Japan is Asia’s largest economy with China close behind. South Korea ranks No. 4. behind India.
The ministers were expected to discuss general issues, including an ongoing joint study for a possible three-way free-trade agreement as well as stalled efforts to reach a new global trade deal within the WTO, Kim Sung-soo, an official at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said on Saturday.
The meeting comes as concerns grow over the state of the world economy amid Europe’s debt crisis, which has shaken financial markets and raised fears over a possible broader impact on commerce.
South Korea, China and Japan are studying a possible free-trade deal, though achieving one could take years. Efforts by South Korea and Japan to reach a bilateral agreement have gone mostly nowhere because of a dispute on how to handle trade in rice.
Seoul has been the most aggressive in pursuing bilateral free-trade pacts.
South Korea has pacts in force with Chile, India, Singapore, ASEAN and the European Free Trade Association, which comprises Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
It has signed a deal with the US and concluded negotiations on one with the EU, though the agreements remain unratified.
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