South Korea, Turkey sign free trade deal

Seoul: South Korea and Turkey signed a preliminary agreement on a free trade deal that will eliminate all tariffs imposed on goods traded between the two nations, the economy ministry said Monday.

The preliminary Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached between South Korea and Turkey, three years after the two countries started negotiating the deal, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The agreement planned to be completed in the first half of this year, and

[caption id="attachment_255569" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="The agreement will be completed in the first half of this year"][/caption]

ratified by the parliament later this year.

"This agreement was only about goods and products traded between the two nations. The deal on services and investment will be reached within one year after implementing the deal on goods," an official at the ministry told Xinhua.

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The ministry said that all the tariffs on goods will be eliminated within seven years after implementing the deal, noting that the zero-tariff deal will increase the bilateral cross-border trades significantly.

Turkey is a promising export destination for South Korea due to its fast economic growth, the ministry said, adding that the Asia's No.4 economy posted trade surplus of $4.28 billion last year with Turkey.

IANS