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    Korea
     Aug 5, 2005
Korea, Singapore ink FTA

SEOUL - South Korea and Singapore formally signed a free trade agreement (FTA) on Thursday, a deal that analysts say could boost Seoul's competitiveness in the service sector and expand Singaporean companies' investment here. The agreement was signed between South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and Singapore's minister for trade and industry, Lim Hng Kiang, nine months after the two countries initialed an accord.

Singapore is South Korea's 10th-largest trading partner, with two-way commerce reaching US$10.1 billion in 2002. The city state is also one of Asia's leading centers for shipping, logistics and finance, and the agreement is expected to help South Korean companies hone their competitiveness in those sectors. This is South Korea's second free trade pact. In April last year, Seoul effectuated its first FTA with Chile.

The Foreign Ministry said it will seek parliamentary approval for the FTA with Singapore in September when the National Assembly begins its regular session. Under the accord, Singapore will abolish tariffs on all imports from South Korea. South Korea will eliminate import duties on 91.6% of Singaporean products over the next 10 years. Products made in North Korea's Kaesong industrial complex will have the same status as those produced in South Korea, an incentive for companies that invest in the industrial park.

Several South Korean companies have begun turning out goods in the industrial complex near the inter-Korean border, a culmination of South-North rapprochement that started after the June 2000 summit. The deal comes as Seoul is seeking to strike free trade accords as part of efforts to continue to power its export-driven economy.

South Korea recently signed a preliminary free trade pact with the European Free Trade Association, a four-nation free trade bloc comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. It is currently in discussions with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Canada for free trade accords.

(Asia Pulse/Yonhap)

 

 
 



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