On the 26th of October, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy held a ceremony to declare the conclusion of the Korea-Philippine Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and an online signing ceremony for the Korea-Cambodia FTA, respectively.
Mr. Yeo Han-koo, Minister of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and his Filipino counterpart, Ramon Lopez announced that the Korea-Philippine FTA negotiations had been concluded and their joint statement containing the same content had been signed. In April 2019, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the ministers of trade, Philipines and Korea agreed to promote an FTA in order to establish a comprehensive economic partnership, and then began negotiations in June of the same year. After two years and four months with five rounds of official negotiations, and inter-sessional negotiations, both sides agreed to open the markets with 12 chapters, including products, origins, customs, competition, and economic cooperation on the 26th of October, when the ASEAN-Korea Summit was held.
According to the Korea-Philippines FTA, the Philippines will lift tariffs on 96.5% percent of all products traded and South Korea will move tariffs on 94.8% of all items. For agricultural, fishery, and forestry products, most of the preferences and levels of openness are maintained within the scope of the FTA. The Korean government has secured agricultural safeguard measures in response to the Philippines' request to open the market for banana products. The two sides agreed to expedite the internal procedures for legal review and promote to formally sign the Korea-Philippines FTA at the soonest. Minister Yeo said, “It will be a great help for both countries to strengthen a resilient global supply chain together in a rapidly changing trade environment.” and "We have prepared the foundation to deal with global issues such as vaccines and fostering cooperation in various fields such as healthcare, electric cars, rare metals.” he said.
Also on the same day, Trade Minister finally signed the Korea-Cambodia FTA with the Cambodian Minister of Commerce - Pan Sorasak.
This FTA was promoted as an agreement between the two leaders during President Moon Jae-in's visit to Cambodia in March 2019. In November of the same year, the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit was held in Busan as an opportunity to announce the start of joint research. After the negotiations began in July of the following year, a total of four negotiations were held, and a final agreement was reached in February of this year. Minister Yeo said, “This is the result of the Shinnambang Policy promoted by Korea for common prosperity with ASEAN countries and the will to promote the national economy through free trade and industrial development of Cambodia” and “we hope more cooperate changes in the in the future and look forward to moving forward on the road to common prosperity.”
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