It is a welcome move for Korea to have decided to join other major economies in the talks on concluding a global trade deal for services. A government official recently said that a formal announcement would be made this week after a related briefing to the National Assembly.

Over the past year, Korea has been taking domestic procedures in preparation for the negotiations on the Trade in Service Agreement, which have so far brought together 21 economies including the U.S., European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada and Taiwan. The participants, which agreed on a basic framework for specific discussions in March, are due to submit schedules for tearing down barriers to trade in services at the third round of talks to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, late this month.

The conclusion of the agreement, which is expected to come as early as next year, will enable Korean companies to have more opportunities in its signatories’ services markets, ranging from telecommunications and construction to education and health care. Korea and 21 other participants in the TISA negotiations account for more than 70 percent of the world’s service trade. The proportion will further increase when China and Brazil, which have been conducting internal reviews, also join the negotiations.

The TISA, initiated by the U.S. and Australia in early 2012, is aimed at liberalizing the service sector worldwide in a bid to shift from the long-stalled Doha Development Agenda, the current and ninth round of the World Trade Organization’s multilateral negotiations. It is set to be the first trade talks to be undertaken by President Park Geun-hye’s administration, which will have to prove the advantage of its decision to move trade negotiating authority from the Foreign Ministry to a ministry in charge of industry.

A local research institute recently predicted that TISA membership would help Korea’s gross domestic product grow by an additional 0.63 to 0.64 percentage point over the coming 15 years by providing its services sector with more business opportunities abroad. Korea should not lose the chance to expand its market share in emerging countries. Having signed bilateral free trade agreements with most key economies that have stronger service sectors, officials here hope, joining the TISA will have little or moderate effect on the local market.

Korea’s service industry gradually grew to take up 58.2 percent of GDP last year, followed by the manufacturing sector with 31.1 percent. But its productivity still remains at about 60 percent of those in other advanced nations in contrast to its manufacturers’ strong international competitiveness.

The low competitiveness of the local service industry is attributed mainly to high barriers that have overprotected it. Further opening the market may be the only effective way to sharpen its competitiveness, as shown in the distribution sector. The participation in the TISA negotiations will give a valuable impetus to moving toward that end.