Brussels, 01/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission José Manuel Barroso and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak will jointly chair the discussions at the 5th bilateral summit between the EU and South Korea in Brussels on Tuesday 5 October. It is expected that the free trade agreement between the EU and its fourth largest trading partner will be formally signed on Tuesday, further cementing their economic partnership. In addition to bilateral economic relations, global issues (global governance - South Korea will chair the G20 summit in Seoul -and climate) and international (Afghanistan, Middle East and Pakistan) and, above all, regional (especially the situation in the Korean peninsula) security issues will be discussed.
Relations between the EU and South Korea are governed by the 2001 framework agreement on trade and cooperation. Bilateral trade in goods was worth €54 billion in 2009. The EU is South Korea's second largest export market, after China: in 2009, the EU had a trade deficit of some €10 billion with South Korea (€21.5 billion in exports against imports of €32 billion). The EU enjoys a trade surplus, however, in the bilateral trade in services (€7.8 billion in exports against €4.4 billion in imports) and has been South Korea's main investor since 1962. (E.H./transl.rt)