S. Korea seeks to sign FTA with EU by April

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is seeking to formally clinch a free
trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union by the end of April, a senior trade
official here said Wednesday.
After two years of negotiations, South Korea and the EU initialed the final text
of the trade deal in October last year. The deal still needs to be approved by
South Korea's National Assembly and the heads of the EU's 27-member states to go
into force.
Lee Hye-min, Seoul's Deputy Minister for Trade, said he will meet his EU
counterpart, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, in Paris on Friday.
"At the meeting, I will discuss the matter of formally signing (the FTA) by the
end of April," Lee told reporters at a weekly press briefing.
But, Lee added the signing could be delayed by one or two weeks, depending on the
EU's schedule.
After the meeting with Bercero, South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon will
hold a meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht on Monday in Paris, Lee
said.
If approved, the FTA with South Korea would be the EU's first free trade deal in
Asia. The EU was South Korea's second-biggest trading partner after China and its
largest foreign investor in 2008.
In 2008, two-way trade between South Korea and the EU stood at US$98.4 billion. A
study by the South Korean government predicted the deal would eventually boost
bilateral trade by 20 percent.
For years, South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, has actively pushed to
seal free trade deals with its trading partners, including the United States. The
deal with the U.S. is now awaiting approval from both nations' legislatures.
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