Korea strikes FTA with Turkey

Korea signed a free trade agreement with Turkey, one of most promising nations in Europe, Wednesday, paving the way for brisk business transactions.

Under the pact, Turkey is also expected to serve as a stepping stone for Korean firms to tap into fast growing Middle East and African markets, trade experts said.

Korea’s Trade Minister Park Tae-ho and his Turkish counterpart Zafer Caglayan signed the FTA in the Turkey’s capital Ankara.

“Trade volume between Korea and Turkey is gradually on the rise. The FTA will help accelerate the increase and it will tighten economic ties between the two countries,” said a spokesman for Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT). “It will also help strengthen our strategic partnership.”

The FTA will take effect after the deal gets parliamentary endorsement in the two countries.

Among Korea’s major export items to the European nation are cars, auto parts, steel, petrochemical products and televisions. Turkey’s existing tariff on products (up to 23.4 percent on steel products and 22 percent on cars) will disappear in phases over the next seven years.

Tariffs on agricultural products will be abolished on both sides in phases over the next 10 years. By products, Turkish chocolate, olive oil, sugar cane, and tuna will be imported without tariffs within five years; processed jam and butter in seven years; and wheat flour, wine and dried seaweed in ten years, according to MOFAT.

Korea will see an immediate elimination of export tariffs on instant coffee, kimchi, instant noodles and soju, it said.

“Trade volume of agricultural products between the two nations is small, so the FTA will have a limited negative impact on the domestic agriculture industry,” a MOFAT official said.

Korea’s exports to Turkey reached $5,085 million last year, up 35.5 percent from a year ago, while it imported products and services worth $804 million, up 55.8 percent during the same period.

Including this, Korea has signed FTAs with nine countries, including the United States and the European Union, while Turkey has 46 tariff-free trading partners. <The Korea Times/Park Si-soo>

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