Korea Times | 08-09-2007

S. Korea, Mexico Agree to Resume Free Trade Talks

By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

South Korea and Mexico officially have agreed to resume their negotiations for a full free trade agreement (FTA), which is expected to contribute not only to economic ties but the political partnership between the two countries, officials in Seoul said Wednesday.

Senior officials from the two sides held several rounds of talks last month and finally reached an agreement to resume their stalled negotiations soon to achieve a higher level of trade liberalization in all sectors.

Seoul and Mexico City had held talks for a Strategic Economic Complementation Agreement (SECA), a lower level of free trade pact, from February 2006. But the talks were halted in June last year due to wide gaps in positions.

We finally agreed to seek a full FTA, which covers substantially all sectors of the trade,'' a trade official said.We hope we can resume formal negotiations in late September or October after working-level preparatory consultation this month.’’