Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesia and theRepublic of Korea have signed a preliminary agreement on the ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
The CEPA is equivalent to a free tradeagreement (FTA) but also focuses on a broader scope of economiccooperation.
The two countries also agreed to significantlyopen their service markets and ease related regulations.
They plan to officially strike the CEPA in thefirst half of 2020. The deal has to be ratified by the respective legislatures.
Two-way trade stood at 20 billion USD in 2018,up from 17.9 billion USD in 2017, according to the RoK’s government data.
The RoK is striving to sign FTAs with Malaysiaand the Philippines at the end of the year when the Rok-ASEAN summit is slatedfor November in Busan.
If all the negotiations under way aresuccessful, the RoK will have free trade deals with all the five of its topASEAN trading partners./.