Govt may approve India-South Korea FTA next week

New Delhi, June 28 (PTI) The Indian Government is likely
to approve next week a free trade agreement with South Korea
aimed at opening markets of both the countries to each other.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
between the countries would break duty barriers that would
enable over 10 billion-dollars in bilateral trade.

Over 90 per cent of the items under trade would be
covered in the agreement, which is likely to come into
operation later this year, an official said, adding that the
agreement may come up for consideration next week.

With the implementation of CEPA, people of the two
countries would be able to import bulk of goods eventually
without paying any duty.

The CEPA negotiations had started in March 2006 and was
concluded in September 2008.

In its recent visit to India, South Korea Minister for
Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan had discussed CEPA
with Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.

India exports large amount of petroleum products, gems
and jewellery, cotton yarn and textile products to the
country. Petroleum products constitute around 55 per cent of
India’s exports to South Korea.

In 2007-08, India exported USD 2.85 billion worth of
goods to South Korea, posting a rise of 13.5 per cent over the
previous year. In the same period, the bilateral trade between
the countries was USD 10.12 billion. PTI RR
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