November 16, 2009 20:10 PM

South Korea Expects EU FTA To Take Effect In Second Half Of 2010

SEOUL, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- South Korea expects a free trade deal with the European Union, to take effect in the second half of next year, a senior government official said Monday, according to Yonhap news agency.

After two years of protracted negotiations, South Korea and the EU initialed the final text of the trade deal in October.

The deal, however, still needs to be approved by South Korea's National Assembly and presidents from the EU's 27-member states.

"It's difficult to talk about an exact timing, but I expect the deal to be approved in the second half of next year," Lee Seong-han, head of a division dealing with FTA matters at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, told a meeting of corporate executives, Yonhap said.

If approved, it would be the EU's first free trade deal in Asia. The EU was South Korea's second-biggest trading partner after China and its largest foreign investor in 2008.

Last year, two-way trade between South Korea and the EU stood at US$98.4 billion, while a study by the South Korean government predicted the deal would eventually boost bilateral trade by 20 percent.

-- BERNAMA

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