[THE INVESTOR] South Korea launched official talks for signing a free trade agreement with Israel on June 27, the local trade ministry said.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said the first round of negotiations took place in Seoul, seven years after the two countries began discussions on starting FTA talks in 2009.

“South Korea and Israel have complementary economic structures so that an FTA will help the two countries expand bilateral trade and investment considerably,” South Korea‘s top FTA negotiator Yeo Han-koo said. “South Korea will make efforts to expand cooperation with Israel in such diverse areas as startups, cutting-edge technologies and agriculture.” 



FTA negotiations between Seoul and Jerusalem began to make progress after their seven-year hiatus when South Korea’s vice trade minister visited Israel in May.

According to government data, two-way trade reached slightly over US$2 billion in 2015. Israel was South Korea‘s 49th-largest trading partner. South Korea’s main export items include autos, wireless communication equipment and synthetic resins, while it imports mainly chipmaking equipment, and applied electronics products and parts.

Israel has signed free trade deals with 41 countries, including the United States. The country also has 3.5 percent of the world‘s venture capital and is known for running a variety of support programs for tech startups.

(theinvestors@heraldcorp.com)