S. Korea expects EU FTA to take effect in 2nd half of 2010

SEOUL, Nov. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea expects a free trade deal with the
European Union to take effect in the second half of next year, a senior
government official said Monday.
After two years of protracted negotiations, South Korea and the EU initialed the
final text of the trade deal in October. The deal still needs to be approved by
South Korea's National Assembly and presidents from the EU's 27-member states.
"It's difficult to talk about an exact timing, but I expect the deal to be
approved in the second half of next year," Lee Seong-han, head of a division
dealing with FTA matters at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, told a meeting
of corporate executives.
If approved, it 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.
Last year, two-way trade between South Korea and the EU stood at US$98.4 billion,
while a study by the South Korean government predicted the deal would eventually
boost bilateral trade by 20 percent.
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