Korea, Asean seek deals by year’s end

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Korea, Asean seek deals by year’s end

With a separate trade deal on merchandise already coming into force this month, Korea and a group of Southeast Asian nations have agreed to exercise flexibility to finalize free trade talks for two more deals, in the services and investment fields, by the end of this year, officials said yesterday.
The proposed free trade agreement between Korea, Asia’s third-largest economy, and nine of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, consists of four accords on merchandise, services, investment and dispute settlement.
“The two sides agreed to accelerate the pace of negotiations on services and have the flexibility for investment negotiations to complete the two accords by the end of this year,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement, citing the results of their latest round of negotiations in Vietnam last week.
The next round will be held in the third week of August in Singapore, the ministry said. Korea’s trade with Asean, its fifth-largest trading partner, reached $53.5 billion in 2005.
Thailand was left out of the merchandise free trade deal due to differences over the proposed rice market opening. But the country came back to the negotiation table with Korea in April, the ministry said.
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