South Korea and Vietnam announced Wednesday that they had substantially concluded a free trade deal meant to boost bilateral trade by removing barriers in Busan ahead of a special summit to be hosted by Park for leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The agreement covers 17 areas, including products, services and investment, but the two sides agreed to exclude rice, a key staple food for Koreans, according to Park’s office.
Vietnam is South Korea’s ninth-largest trading partner, with about $21.09 billion worth of products shipped to the Southeast Asian country in 2013, when exports reached a record-high.
It is also the world’s fourth-largest destination for South Korean investment that attracted some $1.46 billion from South Korea last year, according to South Korean data.
