Hanoi (VNA) –The Republic of Korea (RoK) on June 3 announced the start of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with thePhilippines as part of efforts to strengthen economic ties with the SoutheastAsian country.
Duringa meeting in Seoul, RoK Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and her Philippinecounterpart Ramon Lopez set the goal of completing the FTA negotiations byNovember this year, in concurrence with the RoK – ASEAN Summit.
Byremoving tariffs and non-tariff barriers, the FTA will also further promote economicties between the two countries, Yoo said.
Tradevalue between the two nations has surged over the past years, reaching 15.6billion USD in 2018, up 67 percent from 2010. The Philippines is now the RoK'sfifth-largest trading partner among the ASEAN member states.
Asidefrom its FTA with ASEAN, the RoK has been seeking to sign separate deals withindividual members because the country considers ASEAN a focus in its NewSouthern Policy.
TheRoK already reached FTAs with Vietnam and Singapore, and is negotiating thedeals with Malaysia and Indonesia as well.
If alltalks are successful, the RoK will have FTA deals with all of its top five tradingpartners in Southeast Asia.-VNA
Philippines, RoK agree to strengthen bilateral ties
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Moon Jae-in on November 13 agreed to enhance bilateral ties and discussed measures to protect people of the two countries.