South Korea and China will hold what they hope will be the last round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement next week, the South Korean trade ministry said Wednesday.
The talks, slated from Monday through Friday in Beijing, will be the fifth this year. The two countries had planned on four rounds of negotiations.
The trade agreement talks got a hard push in July when South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on joint efforts to conclude the FTA within this year.
Yoon Sang-jick, South Korea’s minister for trade, industry and energy, said next week’s negotiations may be the last round, although there could be some unofficial and in-between sessions before the formal conclusion of the talks.
“Actually, the Chinese side says it wants the FTA negotiations concluded before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting,” Yoon said earlier. The APEC summit, involving both South Korean and Chinese heads of state, is slated to be held in Beijing on Nov. 10-11. (Yonhap)
