By EuAsiaNews,
Brussels : The European Union and South Korea signed here Wednesday a landmark Free Trade Agreement (FTA) the first the 27-member bloc has signed with an Asian country.
“This agreement is by far the most important trade deal ever concluded by the European Union with one country and the first Free Trade Agreement with an Asian country,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters after the signing ceremony.
The FTA is expected to double bilateral trade in long term by eliminating tariff and non tariff barriers in trading goods and by creating new opportunities for service providers, he noted.
Lee Myung-bak, President of South Korea, said that this FTA will have great economic benefits for both.
“Others FTA’s focus only on economic issues. However this upgraded FTA is focused on creating a free market. It also touches upon issues like human rights or the rule of law. It is also significant in that a market of 500 million has been opened to Korea and this will lead to a GDP growth of more than 5% each year, ” he told journalists.
The EU and Korea also decided to advance their relationship to a Strategic Partnership.
“What does this new upgraded strategic partnership imply? It implies a greater ambition from both the European Union and Korea to work closely on a whole range of matters, both politically and economically, ” commented EU President Herman Van Rompuy.
” When we are strategic partners, we are working together, not only on a bilateral basis, but also we try to work together on a global basis,” he added.
The FTA which is expected to be implemented from next July provides for the progressive liberalisation by both parties of trade in goods and services, as well as rules on trade-related issues such as competition and state aid, intellectual property.
The agreement requires the two parties to eliminate 98.7% of duties in trade value for both industry and agriculture within five years, and to eliminate remaining tariffs almost fully over longer period.