한국과 호주가 마침내 자유무역협정 (FTA)에 공식서명하며 새로운 교역시장이 열렸다. FTA 발효 후 관세 철폐 내지 상당부분 완화되고 이로 인해 10년간 대한민국의 GDP는 0.14 %, 소비자 후생수준은 약 16억불 증가할 것이라고 정부는 밝혔다.
8일 오전 청와대서 산업부 윤상직 장관과 호주 통상부 앤드류 롭 장관이 양국 정상이 지켜보고 있는 가운데 FTA 서명식을 가졌다. 올 하반기에 양국 국회의 비준을 받게 된다면 한-호주 FTA는 2015년 발효될 예정이다.
이는 박근혜 대통령과 애벗 총리 취임 이후 첫 서명된 FTA이다.
한 정부 관계자는 “한국으로서는 한-미 FTA이후의 새로운 강력한 FTA가 필요한 시점이었고 호주에게 있어서도 동북아시아의 중국, 일본 등과의 FTA를 엿보는 시점에서 한국이 시금석이 될 수 있을거라는 이해관계도 맞아 떨어진 것으로 보인다”고 말했다.
이날 서명된 FTA는 우리나라가 체결한 11번째 FTA(발효 FTA 9개, 서명 FTA 2개)다. 이로써 우리나라의 FTA 경제영토는 전세계 GDP의 57.3%로 확대됐다.
또한 한국은 호주에게 있어 세번째로 큰 수출시장이고 네번째로 큰 교역대상이며, 반대로 호주는 한국에 있어 여섯번째로 큰 교역상대이고 10번째로 큰 수출시장이다.
협정에 따라 한국은 자동차 부분에 큰 혜택을 보게 될 것이고, 호주는 상대적으로 쇠고기와 농작물에 대한 부분에 이득을 볼 수 있게 되었다.
한-호주 FTA 발효 즉시, 호주는 한국에서 수입하는 차량 70%의 관세를 철폐하고 그 후 3년의 시간을 두고 완전철폐의 길로 접어들게 된다. 한국의 대 호주 자동차 수출액은 10억 달러에 이른다.
한국은 반대로 호주 쇠고기에 대한 관세를 72%까지 내리게 된다.
우태희 통상교섭실장은 이번 FTA를 두고 “서로 혜택을 볼 수 있는 협정”이라고 평가했다.
(코리아헤럴드 배지숙 기자)
Korea, Australia sign free trade agreement
Park, Abbott agree to bolster security cooperation, urge N.K. to abandon nuke program
South Korea and Australia on Tuesday signed a free trade agreement that is expected to reinforce economic ties and help respective businesses find new opportunities.
The tearing-down of tariffs on automobiles, beef and other traded goods is expected to give Korea’s gross domestic product a 0.14 percent increase and boost customer welfare by $1.6 billion within 10 years of the FTA’s effectuation, the Korean government said.
The signing was held between Korean Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick and his counterpart Andrew Robb at the presidential office in Seoul, with President Park Geun-hye and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s support. The pact now awaits the National Assembly’s ratification and is expected to go into effect in 2015.
The Korea-Australia FTA is the first such deal for both the Park Geun-hye and Abbott governments. A deal with Canada was agreed in March but has not yet been signed. The Australia pact is the 11th FTA for Korea, which now has free trade ties with 48 economies.
“We believe signing the free trade agreement today offers an institutional template promoting economic cooperation and broadening the scope of our cooperation as well as taking our cooperation to a higher level,” Park said during the bilateral summit held earlier in the day.
The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement is regarded as a pivotal pact for both countries. Korea is currently the third-largest export market and fourth-largest trading partner for Australia. Australia is the sixth-largest trading partner for Korea and the 10th-largest export market, posting South Korea an $11.22 billion trade deficit in 2013.
Under the agreement, the two economies will eliminate import tariffs on most products within 10 years of the implementation of the deal.
Australia will immediately abolish its tariffs on 70 percent of cars from Korea, while the rest will be removed within the following three years. Korea’s car exports to Australia marked around $1.96 billion in 2013, taking over 20.5 percent of South Korea’s total exports to Australia.
Korea will gradually eliminate its tariffs of up to 72 percent on beef imports from Australia.
“The FTA is expected to give balanced benefit for the two parties,” said Assistant Trade Minister Woo Tae-hee.
During the bilateral summit held before the FTA signing ceremony, leaders of South Korea and Australia agreed to boost security cooperation to better protect the Asia-Pacific region from diverse military threats and to promote peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula. The two leaders also urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs and comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions, saying it was “essential for peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
Abbott also welcomed Park’s vision for promoting peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia and stressed the need for achieving peaceful unification and improving human rights conditions in the communist regime.
In a joint statement for a secure, peaceful and prosperous future between the two countries, leaders said they would review the existing bilateral-security frameworks and seek to strengthen defense-industry and procurement cooperation.
To expand investment, the two said they would cooperate to promote deregulation campaigns by exchanging experts and business delegations.
“By eliminating unnecessary corporate regulation, we will ensure businesses get the most out of our free trade agreement,” the two said in a joint statement.
By Cho Chung-un and Bae Ji-sook
(christory@heraldcorp.com) (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)
