Brussels, 07/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - As we announced (EUROPE 9418), Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and South Korean Minister Kim Hyun-Chong officially opened talks for a “new generation” free-trade agreement (FTA) between the Union and South Korea, in Seoul on Sunday. Discussions will cover tariff, non-tariff and regulatory aspects of bilateral trade in the field of agriculture, manufactured products and services, as well as intellectual property rights, public procurement and competition. Whereas the Union is Seoul's second largest trade partner after China, South Korea is the fourth largest non-European partner of the Twenty-Seven. According to several studies, a free-trade agreement between the Union and South Korea would help to stimulate bilateral trade by 25%, which stood at close to $80 billion (€58.4 billion) last year.
The Union particularly hopes that this FTA will help it to gain privileged access to the automotive and pharmaceutical markets of South Korea. This hope was confirmed by Mr Mandelson, who told the South Korean press that the Europeans would be “particularly attentive to the automotive sector”. “I am proud of each and every one of the European cars I see on the streets of Seoul, but I would like to see even more”, he added. Major benefits are also expected, on the European side, in the services sector and considerable gains are also hoped for in the agricultural field, in which the Union hopes to improve its exports of pork and beef to the South Korean market. For its part, Seoul will bring pressure to bear not only for a tariff reduction in the field of automotives, but also for a dismantling of customs duties in electronics, audiovisuals and textiles. “Opening up our market is not a question of choice, but of survival”, stressed Mr Kim, whose country's economy depends on external trade to a level of 70%.
“Such an agreement will increase the opportunities of both sides, whilst giving valuable impetus to the liberalisation of world trade”, said Mr Mandelson and Mr Kim, speaking more generally, and going on to point out that their bilateral talks in no way eclipsed the need to conclude multilateral talks at the WTO in the framework of the Doha negotiations. “I see any bilateral agreement between us as a complement, not an alternative to the Doha Round, which is our ultimate goal”, the trade commissioner stressed, pointing out that the inclusion of the Singapore subjects (investment, public procurement and competition/rules on state aid) in the bilateral talks would help to move forward these questions, which are not included on the Doha agenda, at multilateral level.
Scheduled to continue until 11 May, the first round of negotiations this week will be given over to manufactured products and services. The next table rounds are set to take place in July, and September. A fourth round is also to be held this year. (eh)