The government will launch the 15th follow-up negotiations on services, investment and finance under the Korea-China free trade agreement (FTA). With domestic and external uncertainty continuing, the plan is to secure negotiation results that help Korea's corporations enter the Chinese market.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said the 15th round of follow-up negotiations on the Korea-China FTA will be held in Beijing from the 22nd to the 26th. The talks will include Kwon Hye-jin, director general for trade negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, and Lin Feng, director general for international trade affairs at China's Ministry of Commerce, as chief delegates, with more than 30 delegates from both sides participating.
The Korea-China FTA took effect in 2015. To raise the level of liberalization in services and investment, the two countries began follow-up talks in Mar. 2018 under the "guidelines for follow-up negotiations." Since then, 14 rounds of formal negotiations and numerous intersessional meetings have been held, but the gap between the two sides has been hard to bridge.
The negotiations have picked up speed this year. On Jan. 1, the leaders of Korea and China agreed to work toward meaningful progress in the follow-up talks within the year. Related discussions continued at the Korea-China trade ministers' meeting held in Mar. Taking the Korea-China FTA joint committee meeting scheduled for this week as an opportunity, the two countries' trade ministers will also meet separately to discuss ways to advance the negotiations.
Building on this high-level momentum, the delegation set a goal of achieving tangible results in both the agreement text and market-opening negotiations across the three areas of services, investment and finance.
Deputy Minister Kwon said, "We hope the follow-up negotiations on the Korea-China FTA will lay the groundwork for free and open trade in services and for improving a predictable investment environment," adding, "Amid continuing domestic and external uncertainty, we will do our best to produce negotiation results that help Korea's corporations enter the Chinese market."