Pres. Lee urges progress in Korea-Turkey free trade talks

"A free trade agreement between Korea and Turkey will serve as a new developmental opportunity in promoting economic growth to befit the fraternal relationship between the two countries."

This is what President Lee Myung-bak said Saturday, the first day of his four-day visit to the Middle East at a meeting with Korean and Turkish businessmen in Istanbul.

Seoul and Ankara has made little progress in free trade negotiations since the talks were started in 2010 at the suggestion of Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

President Lee said, "The people of both countries consider each other brothers, but think their bilateral economic relationship doesn`t strike a balance (due to Korea`s huge trade surplus with Turkey)." With a Korea-Turkey summit slated for Monday in Ankara, he added, "The free trade agreement is a matter than can be solved if we make efforts through summit talks."

Last year, Korea exported goods mainly home electronics, including mobile phones, worth 5.08 billion U.S. dollars to Turkey and imported 800 million worth of goods such as nuts, olive and tuna.

An official from the Korean presidential office said, "Our products are exported to Turkey at low tariffs through the free trade agreement with the EU since Turkey is a member of the EU customs union. By contrast, Turkey pays relatively high tariffs to export goods to Korea," adding, "To remove this structure, Turkey wants the free trade agreement more than we do."

On the joint advance into third countries by Korean and Turkish companies, President Lee said, "We have reached the stage in which businesses of both countries cooperate with each other for the agenda of entering third countries."

The presidential official added, "If we join forces with Turkey, a powerful country in the Middle East, this will allow us to do business better than Korea making unilateral moves to enter the African and Middle Eastern markets in energy, resources, construction and infrastructure."

srkim@donga.com