This week, the 1st Round of Negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and the Republic of Korea is being held in Montevideo, Uruguay. Delegations of MERCOSUR members and the Republic of Korea are participating in the meeting.
The Argentine delegation is headed by the Secretary for International Economic Relations of the Foreign Ministry, Horacio Reyser Travers. The Korean delegation is headed by the General Director for Negotiations on Free Trade Agreements of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Kijune KIM.
Our bloc and the Asian country promptly concluded exploratory dialogue during 2017 and in May 2018 announced in the city of Seoul the beginning of trade negotiations. Thus, Korea became the first country of the Asia-Pacific region with which MERCOSUR has begun negotiations.
Korea is one of the world's leading economies and an attractive market for Argentina. It has large consumer demand for high-quality food products.
The agreement is expected to improve access conditions to the Korean market for agro-industrial products by reducing tariffs and harmonizing technical, sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
The goal of the agreement is to increase and diversify exports (USD 506,2 million in 2017), which are currently concentrated in cereal, flour and soy oil, minerals and fish.
Furthermore, given Korea's increasing importance as a global investor, a future agreement is expected to dynamize Foreign Direct Investment flows to Argentina.
In this first round, the following working groups are holding meetings: Trade in Goods; Technical Barriers to Trade; Sanitary and Phitosanitary Measures; Trade Remedies; Trade in Services; Trade and Sustainable Development; Competition; Intellectual Property Rights; Government Procurement; Dispute Settlement and Institutional Affairs.
The 1st Round of MERCOSUR-Korea Negotiations will be held on 11-14 September.
Press Release No. 365/18
