Seoul to hold FTA talks with six Central American nations

Korea will hold free trade agreement negotiations with six Central American countries this week, the Trade Ministry said Monday.

The third round of negotiations will be held in San Francisco, U.S., from Monday to Friday, local time, according to the ministry. 

The six Central American countries are El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

At the five-day negotiations, the countries will discuss key topics including the products subject to the FTA, finances and government procurement.

The two sides had first announced the start of negotiations for the seven-way FTA in June last year.

The six countries ranked fifth in terms of a combined gross domestic product of $220.2 billion with a population of 46.2 million according to the Trade Ministry.

Korea‘s trade with the Central American countries stood at $4.1 billion in 2015, slightly down from $5 billion in 2014.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)