China, S. Korea begin 10th round of FTA talks next week
March 14, 2014, 5:46 am

The two sides will discuss a joint written agreement to include goods, rule of origin, customs, sanitary and phytosanitory (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT) and trade remedy [Xinhua]

The week long 10th round of talks will further discussions on goods liberalization, service, investment and rules.

The two sides will discuss a joint written agreement to include goods, rule of origin, customs, sanitary and phytosanitory (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT) and trade remedy.

China and South Korea have in recent months been united in their criticism against the Japanese government after Prime Minster Shinzo Abe’s visit to a controversial shrine honoring war criminals alongwith those who died in World War II.

Both China and South Korea had some parts of their territory under Japanese rule in the past.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had met his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye in October last year on the sidelines of the APEC meet in Bali. Both leaders have aggressively pushed for the bilateral FTA that could see further buoying of trade ties between the two Asian giants.

The new round of talks that begin next week will also look at service and investment, intellectual property rights, e-commerce, transparency and the environment.

South Korea and China completed the first stage in early September for the bilateral free trade pact, with a total of seven rounds of negotiations.

Seoul and Beijing tentatively agreed to abolish tariffs on 90 per cent of all products during the first-stage talks, but they opened the door for raising the threshold during the second-phase negotiations.

China is South Korea’s biggest trading partner, with Seoul’s exports to Beijing accounting for a quarter of the total in 2012. Since the two neighbors established diplomatic ties in 1992, their annul trade has grown almost 50 times and reached $256 billion in 2012.

South Korea posted a trade surplus for 25 straight months as exports continued to grow at a modest pace, customs data showed Friday. Revised figure for the February trade surplus was $934 million, up from a $778 million surplus in the prior month.

Exports to China increased 3.8 per cent, data released on Friday revealed.

The 10th round of the FTA talks will be held in Ilsan, northwest of capital Seoul, from Monday to Friday.

TBP and Agencies