Conclusion of the FTA between Korea and Chile

The FTA between Korea and Chile, the first FTA of Korea, was concluded officially on the 15th.

Mr. Choi Seong-hong, Minister of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Mr. Christian Baros, Deputy Minister of the Foreign Affairs signed the FTA between two countries in the Blue House on that day while President Kim Dae-joong and Mr. Richardo Lagos, President of Chile were watching them.

In line with this, the conclusion of the FTA between two countries has been confirmed, and it will become effective on the 30th days from the date of the exchange of ratification letter after it is ratified by the National Assembly.

If the agreement becomes effective, all the tariffs for the imported items which correspond to about 95% of the traded items will be abolished within ten years. In particular, the tariffs for 2,300 items which constitute 66% of items exported to Chile by Korea such as the passenger vehicle, truck, computer and mobile phone will be abolished immediately with the effectuation of the agreement.

Korea will abolish immediately the tariffs for all the imported industrial products excluding such one item as the electric copper and get rid of the tariffs for 224 items including the breeding cow and the breeding pig within the first year after the agreement becomes effective.

However, two countries can continue to levy the import tariffs on the apple and the pear among the agricultural products and the washing machine and the refrigerator.

Since the negotiation for the FTA between two countries has been started from the agreement between the summits of two countries in September 1999, it was concluded after three years by coming to a conclusion of the core points of disputes such as ‘ the exclusion of the opening of apple and pear’ in the 6th negotiation held in Geneva in October, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is expected to accelerate the negotiation of FTA with Japan along-with which the co-researches are being made among the industrial, governmental and academic sectors and Singapore with which the negation process has been agreed upon. Korea has been the first country in Asia with which Chile made an agreement of the FTA.

Ja-Ryong Koo bonhong@donga.com