India, S Korea resolve FTA issues, to sign pact by year-end
PTI News | 25 Sep 2008
India, S Korea resolve FTA issues, to sign pact by year-end
New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) India and South Korea today said they have ironed out the differences over signing a free trade agreement in goods, services and investment and have agreed to sign the pact by end of the year.
Issues were resolved after several rounds of negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which had begun in 2006.
The latest round of talks were held in Seoul on September 22-25. Commerce Secretary G K Pillai led the negotiating team from India.
"India and Korea have resolved outstanding issues in the negotiations. The agreement is expected to be signed by end of this year and would come into effect from first half of next year on a mutually agreed date," an official release said here.
The two sides expect to finalise the formal text of the agreement by the end of next month.
The CEPA is expected to further accelerate growth of trade and investment between South Korea and India, it said.
Bilateral trade has been growing at an average 27 per cent over the last three years and was USD 11.2 billion in 2007.
