Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Korea and China Exchanged 2nd Offer of Goods and Made Progress in Regulations

The 11th round of Korea-China FTA negotiations was held in China (Meishan, Sichuan) for five days from May 26 to May 30, 2014. The Korean delegation was led by Woo Tae-hee, Assistant Minister for Trade & Chief Negotiator for FTAs of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, while the Chinese delegation was led by Wang Shouwen, Assistant Minister of Commerce. During this negotiation, the two parties discussed all of the areas to be covered by the FTA, including offers of goods, services and investments and regulations and cooperation. The two parties exchanged a 2nd offer which was improved from the 1st offer exchanged in December 2013 for the category of goods, and also exchanged the 2nd request for items of key interest to each party. The two parties made meaningful progress in terms of agreement on text of trade in goods, trade remedy, regulations and areas of cooperation. As well, the parties engaged in in-depth discussions on the approach to opening the services and investment sectors, and significantly, exchanged requests and opinions about areas of mutual interest in relation to the services sector for the first time. The negotiations also saw significant progress in areas such as rules of origin, customs procedures and environment, and it was agreed that efforts to reach an agreement on the remaining issues would be accelerated. The two parties also engaged in in-depth discussions on ways to reinforce bilateral cooperation in industry, agriculture, fishery, forestry and government procurement. The 12th round of negotiations will be held in Korea in July, at a date and location to be determined. date2014-06-09

Korea and China Move Closer to FTA

date2014-05-23

Fifth Round of Korea-Vietnam FTA Negotiations to be Held

The Korean delegation will be led by Director General for FTA Policy from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, Kim Hak-do, and will include representatives from relevant Ministries, including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. For Vietnam, Director General for Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), Ministry of Industry and Trade, Bui Huy Son (former Director for Asia-Pacific Market) will lead the delegation. During this fifth round meeting, the two government delegations will have in-depth discussions regarding goods, services, and investment, country of origin, customs and cooperation. Last year, government leaders from both countries had agreed to sign a comprehensive, wide-ranging FTA before the end of 2014. Vietnam is an important trade and investment partner to Korea, as well as an economic cooperation partner among ASEAN countries. With the signing of a Korea-Vietnam FTA, more meaningful free trade and investment will be feasible compared to under the existing Korea-ASEAN FTA, thus reinforcing the bilateral economic and trade relationship. * As of 2013, Vietnam is Korea’s 9th largest trading partner and its 4th largest target of investment. (Korea’s 2nd largest trade partner and biggest target for investment in ASEAN) date2014-05-22

The Results of the Korea-New Zealand FTA Intersessional Meeting

Both parties exchanged their opinions through in the sections such as goods, investment, rule of origin, cooperation, and general provisions. The goods did not see much progress in the negotiation as the two countries failed to narrow the gaps of the degrees of protecting agricultural goods and maintaining balanced interests between both countries, while other areas including rule of origin and general provisions were progressed to a certain degree. The parties plan to have the next round of negotiation in New Zealand in early June in order to discuss the major issues. In the next round, the Korean government will endeavor to achieve balanced interests between Korea and New Zealand. date2014-05-09

Korea Holds the Resources Cooperation Committee Meetings with Australia and Papua New Guinea

More notably, the two countries initiated cooperation for the energy and resources sectors of two countries, based on Korea’s excellence in the area of manufacturing, by entering into an MOU for GTL FPSO (the floating liquid fuel manufacturing process using natural gases) and an MOU for cooperation in the utilization of mining byproducts. * Signing of MOUs: An MOU between the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and SMI (Sustainable Minerals Institute) of the University of Queensland (for research on mining byproducts and its application); and an MOU between KIST and CSIRO (for research on GTL FPSO) * GTL FPSO (Gas to Liquid Floating Production Storage and Offloading): The process through which GTL is manufactured using natural gases on the FPSO Vice Minister Han (the head of the Korean delegation) said, “Australia is an important partner to Korea in terms of supporting our energy security and a stable supply of mineral resources, as it is Korea’s largest mineral resources supplier and the largest destination for Korea’s overseas mineral resources investments. We will expand the areas of cooperation to be covered by the FTA by developing new areas in which we can work together that capitalize on Korea’s manufacturing excellence.” After visiting Australia, the Korean delegation will visit Papua New Guinea, which is emerging as a supplier of natural gases and minerals such as copper, gold and silver, and will hold the third Korea-Papua New Guinea Resources Cooperation Committee meeting to discuss measures for cooperation between the two countries. * Agendas of the Korea-Papua New Guinea Resources Cooperation Committee meeting: Cooperation for development of gases, LNG, energy and resources and prevention of mine reclamation * Signing of an MOU: between Mine Reclamation Corporation and Mineral Resources Authority of Papua New Guinea (cooperation for prevention of mine reclamation) In addition, the first Korea-Papua New Guinea Trade and Investment Forum will be held and the business opportunities of Korean enterprises in the promising infrastructure and plant construction sectors of Papua New Guinea will be reviewed. At the meeting with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Vice Minister Han will express Korea’s intent to maintain close cooperation with Papua New Guinea in the energy, resource and plant construction sectors. <a target="_blank" class="pdf" href="http://english.motie.go.kr/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Korea-Holds-the-Resources-Cooperation-Committee- date2014-05-07

2nd Korea-China Trade Cooperation Meeting Held

- Korea Discussed Trade Issues and Measures to Facilitate Trade and Investments with China&rsquo;s Ministry of Commerce &ndash; The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the 2nd Korea-China Trade Cooperation Meeting with the Ministry of Commerce of China in Seoul on April 22, 2014. The general director-level meeting is held on a semi-annual basis, in accordance with the Korea-China MOU for Expansion of Economic and Trade Cooperation, which was signed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry date2014-04-23

Korea-Israel To Expand Technological Cooperation for the Development of Creative Economy

Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will convene the Korea-Israel public-private technology cooperation meeting in July 2014 with the aim of developing a model for creative economic development through technological cooperation with Israel. Leaders of major enterprises and the government of Israel will be invited to the Korea-Israel Industrial Technological Cooperation Conference (Seoul, July 14 to 16, 2014) and meetings among associations and one-to-one corporate consulting sessions will be held with the goal of expanding the scope of Korea-Israel cooperation, which had previously been focused on government-level joint technology development in overall industry. By holding the event together with the Korea-Israel Innovation Day event proposed by Israel at the 5th Joint Economic Committee Meeting (April 7, 2014), the efforts of the two countries for innovation and future cooperation measures will be highlighted, and Korea-Israel cooperation in industrial technology will be taken to a higher level. ※ Innovation Day: The Ministerial-level bilateral event aims to review the results of joint research and cooperation for the creative economy of two countries, and to discuss future cooperation measures in related areas. Israel is the world’s No. 2 unmanned aerial vehicle technology leader following the US, and Korea is working on direct and indirect technological cooperation with IAI and Elbit System in Israel, the world’s most prestigious unmanned aerial vehicle developers. Along with Sweden and Finland, Israel has been highly recognized as having one of the world’s best cyber threat response systems, with Israeli companies Check Point and Cyber Software securing world-leading market shares in the integrated crisis management, firewall and information leakage prevention sectors. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will dispatch a delegation with about 30 members from the public and private sectors, including Park Hee-jae, Head of the Strategy &amp; Planning Division of the Ministry, technological experts and members of the industry to MIXiii (the innovation conference of Israel) to be held in late May, 2014, and will hold discussions with the Israeli government and figures in the industry on details about the selection of Israeli partners and technologies for cooperation. The Ministry has operated the Korea-Israel Joint R&amp;D Project jointly with Israel’s Ministry of the Economy, and has utilized Israel’s source technologies and the application and manufacturing technologies of Korean SMEs. Since the two countries signed an agreement in 1999, the Korea-Israel Industrial R&amp;D Foundation was established in 2001, and both countries have contributed USD 2 million per year to finance joint R&amp;D activities between the two countries (accumulated contributions of USD 37 million). A total of 132 initiatives have been supported (a total amount of support of USD 34 million), and visible results have been produced including revenues (a total of USD 25 million) through 25 out of 53 initiatives completed. Officer Cha Dong-hyeong of Industry &amp; Technology Policy Division of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, “Israel is our great benchmarking model, as it has set an example by develo date2014-04-18

Korea and China to Reach an Agreement through Working-Level Discussions

The Korea-China FTA Inter-Sessional Meeting will be held in Beijing, China, on April 15 and 16, 2014. On the Korean side, Kim Yeong-mu, who is Head of the East Asia FTA Negotiation Coordination Division under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will lead the delegation, which will include members from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The Chinese delegation will be led by Sun Wien Zhang, who is Vice President of the International Economy &amp; Trade Relations Division under the Ministry of Commerce. ※ While the FTA delegations for Korea and China are led by Assistant Ministers, the delegations attending this inter-sessional meeting are small in scale and are led by substitute officials. It is expected that this inter-sessional meeting will be a chance to mediate both parties’ positions on key issues, through in-depth discussions on goods, services and investments. The 11th official Korea-China FTA negotiation meeting will be held in China during May of 2014. date2014-04-15

Korea-Australia Trade Ministers to sign Korea-Australia FTA

On April, 8, the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy, Yoon Sang-jick and the Australian Trade and Investment Minister, Andrew Robb jointly signed the Korea-Australia FTA. The Korea-Australia FTA is the 11th such trade deal for Korea, and makes Australia the country’s 48th FTA partner. The size of FTA markets now stands at 57.3% of GDP (9 ratified FTAs + 2 signed FTAs), with Korea's trade with FTA nations accounting for 39% of its total trade. Bilateral trade between Korea and Australia surged from $18.0B in 2007 to $30.3B in 2013. In addition, around 81% of Korea's total investment in Australia was made during the same period, mostly in the energy • resources sectors, raising hopes for widening trade and investment. As Australia has abundant natural resources, the country is Korea's 5th largest import country for mineral resources. Under the FTA, a stable supply of resources is expected, as the FTA can help strengthen cooperation in resources sector and improve reliability in investment. Under the Korea-Australia FTA, it is expected that our exports to Australia will increase, particularly in the current major export items (automobiles, automotive components, heavy equipment for construction, synthetic resin, steel products, etc.). In particular, Korea's SMEs are expected to benefit from reduced tariffs on promising export items such as automobile bumper, optical fiber cable, filters for air purifiers, foods, cosmetics, and others. Under the Korea-Australia FTA, the parties have agreed on the following: l Market access of goods – With the deal in effect, tariffs on almost all trading items will be eliminated within ten years. (Almost all Australian tariffs will be phased out over five years.) l Automobiles – Both parties agreed to immediately abolish tariffs on mid-size gasoline automobiles (1500~3000cc) and compact gasoline automobiles (1000~1500cc) among the automobiles (tariff rate 5%) exported from Korea to Australia. l Automotive components – Tariffs on tires (tariff rate 5%) are eliminated immediately, with tariffs on automobile components (tariff rate 5%) such as gear box, body components, brakes, and buffers to be abolished within three years. l Home appliances and general machinery – Tariffs on most major home appliances and general machinery such as TVs, refrigerators, laundry machines, heavy equipment for construction, and textile machinery are eliminated. l Steel and petrochemical – Tariffs on most major steel products such as cold/hot rolled carbon steel sheet and metal coated steel sheet and petrochemical products such as synthetic resin are abolished immediately. l Agricultural and livestock industry - To protect Korea's sensitive agricultural and l date2014-04-09

Actively Participating in Discussions on Regional Economic Integration in Asia

The 4th round of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations was just held in Nanning, China, over a five-day period that spanned from March 31 (Mon) to April 4 (Fri), 2014. Approximately 500 people from 16 different RCEP member countries took part in the negotiations. The Korean delegation, which was headed by Director-General for FTA Negotiations of the Ministry of Trade, Industry &amp; Energy Kim Young-moo, included officials from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. In this fourth round of negotiations, the participating countries continued active discussions in the areas of Goods, Services and Investment, while also launching discussions on Competition, Intellectual Property Rights, and Economic &amp; Technical Cooperation. The discussions focused on key elements, the scope of negotiations and the Scoping Paper that would be included in the agreement. As well, the participating countries had active discussions about including cooperation among Small &amp; Medium Enterprises, E-commerce, and Government Procurement on the agenda for negotiations. The government will also actively participate in discussions of relevant areas such as Competition &amp; Intellectual Property Rights to take RCEP to another level of comprehensive FTA negotiations. The next meeting (5th round of RCEP negotiations) will be held in June 2014 in Singapore. date2014-04-07