The Korea Food Industry Association said it met with an Indian government delegation visiting Korea for talks to improve the Korea-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and with officials from the Indian Embassy in Korea at the Korea Food Research Institute in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on the 18th to discuss ways to expand cooperation between the two countries' food industries.
According to the association on the 19th, the Indian government delegation toured major testing and inspection facilities and the research infrastructure of the Korea Food Research Institute, which is a testing and inspection institution designated by the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety and an ISO/IEC 17025 internationally accredited testing laboratory. They also reviewed the analysis and testing systems and technical support capabilities for ensuring food safety.
With regard to the CEPA improvement talks, the association also conveyed the difficulties that domestic food companies are experiencing on the ground.
The current CEPA rules of origin require simultaneous compliance with the change in tariff heading (CTH) criterion and the build-down value-added criterion (BD 40%). The association said these standards are acting as a burden on domestic food companies' use of CEPA.
Accordingly, it asked the Indian side to ease the rules of origin so that either the change in tariff heading criterion alone is recognized, or that meeting either the change in tariff heading or the value-added criterion would qualify for preferential tariffs.
Jung Yong-ik, vice chairman of the Korea Food Industry Association, said, "As India grows into a promising consumer market and production base with a population of 1.4 billion, interest from domestic food companies is increasing," adding, "We expect this visit to serve as an opportunity to strengthen Korea-India cooperation in the food industry and to revitalize bilateral food trade by expanding the use of CEPA."