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S. Korea to hold RCEP talks in Busan

South Korea will hold a fresh round of talks on a multinational free trade agreement covering Asia and Oceania this week, following the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) led by the United States, the trade ministry said Sunday.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said the upcoming negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the 10th of its kind, will be held in Busan, a southern port city, from Oct. 12-16.

The RCEP negotiations involve 16 countries of South Korea, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, India and 10 countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

It is the first time for South Korea to convene the RCEP talks, with 700 officials from 16 countries expected to attend.

The ministry said in the upcoming talks, the countries will discuss ways to set guidelines for market liberalization under the envisioned free trade pact and draw up a list of products to be liberalized for each country.

Other trade issues, including property rights, economic cooperation, legal systems, trade barriers and electronic commerce will also be on the agenda.

If signed, the RCEP will create an economic bloc whose member countries have a combined population of 3.4 billion and trade volume of $10.6 billion, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the world's trade, according to the ministry.

Last week, the U.S., Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries inked the TPP, which is expected to become the world's single largest trading bloc. South Korea had not participated in the TPP talks from the outset, citing its free trade deal with the U.S. (Yonhap)