RTR4DNMZ.jpg (Photo : Reuters)
Establishing a free trade area (FTA) between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) will raise the two countries' bilateral market connectivity and all around communication, according to officials on Jan. 18, Sunday.
The Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China started their FTA talks since May 2012 and concluded their negotiations in Nov. 2014.
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said that the agreement between the two countries will be signed this year and will take full effect in the third quarter.
According to MOC official Yang Yihang, the two nations have accomplished agreements on dozens of sectors including service, investment, finance and communication.
"Those agreements provide fresh opportunities for bilateral enterprises and market connectivity," the MOC official said at a forum that focused on the two countries' cooperation in the industrial sector. The event was held in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou.
"The MOC will continue to promote bilateral investment in advanced manufacturing, film and TV production, cultural creativity and medical care," he added.
A senior trade official from South Korea, Hong Chang-pyo, said that establishing a bilateral free trade area will let the two countries share market, remodel work divisions and alter investment models in a mutual way.
Hong awaits a "new normal" in the bilateral investment scare, tourism and logistics storage and more cooperation in renewable energy, environmental protection and automobile.
"The FTA will push for the combination of bilateral value chains that will benefit the entire East Asia," according to another MOC official, Chen Ning.
The FTA will strongly bind the economic cooperation between China and South Korea's local governments. The governments of some Chinese cities--namely, Changzhou, Weifang, Weihai and Yantai--have voiced their intention to set up South Korean industrial parks, Chen added.
