Korea, Turkey to officially sign free trade deal by 1st half

Korea and Turkey have concluded free trade talks two years after they began, with Seoul set to sign its ninth free trade accord and its first with an Islamic country.

Turkey is a geopolitically important country that interlinks Europe, Asia and Africa, so the Korea-Turkey free trade agreement is expected to serve as beachhead for Korean business advance into the Middle East and Africa.

The Knowledge Economy Ministry in Seoul said Monday, “Leaders of Korea and Turkey signed an initial agreement on goods trade at their summit talks Monday morning after declaring the conclusion of goods trade negotiations for their free trade agreement.”

“The two countries agreed to sign the official agreement on goods trade in this year’s first half and seek to effectuate the accord as soon as possible after taking domestic procedures.”

Considering the sensitivity of the agriculture and fisheries sectors, Seoul secured exceptions including the designation of items exempted from tariff cuts and elimination, partial reduction of tariffs, and definition of periods for long-term elimination of tariffs as part of efforts to minimize negative side effects.

A combined 795 agro-fisheries items deemed sensitive were designated as products to be excluded from tariff reduction and elimination, including rice, beef, hot pepper, garlic, onions, baby formula, apples, peaches, tangerines and pollack.

Korea and Turkey have concluded negotiations two years after beginning them in April 2010. Both sides had also started a joint study on the agreement in 2008. The agreement includes tariff elimination on industrial products within seven years and the introduction of the highest level of measures to remedy damage from trade among the free trade deals Korea has signed.

Negotiations in services and investment, which were excluded from the initial talks, will be concluded one year after the effectuation of the agreement on goods trade.

Turkey was Korea’s 33rd-largest trading partner last year as the two countries posted bilateral trade of 5.9 billion U.S. dollars.

constant25@donga.com