South Korea and the European Union are expected to formally sign a free trade agreement as early as next month, Trade Ministry officials said Wednesday.
An “EU foreign ministers’ meeting is scheduled for the 10th of next month, and we expect that they will discuss delegating signing the Korea-EU FTA at the meeting,” Deputy Minister of Trade Ahn Ho-young said. “After that, a formal signing will be held at an appropriate time.”
The official added the agreement could take effect tentatively within the year.
The process of readying the trade pact for formal signing on Korea’s part will be completed once it receives the president’s approval. The Cabinet approved the accrued on Monday.
Full implementation requires approval from the EU council as well as the individual EU member nations’ legislatures.
Negotiations for the pact began in May 2007, and an accord was reached in September last year.
The two sides had at first planned on formalizing the pact in April but procedural matters, including translating the pact accurately into all 23 of the EU’s official languages, have been causing delays in the schedule.
If approved, the trade pact with Korea will be the EU’s first free trade agreement with an Asian nation.
The EU is one of the most important trade and investment partner for Korea, with trade volume coming in second after China in 2008. In terms of investment, the EU was Korea’s largest foreign investor in that year.
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