皇冠体育app

SEOUL - South Korea and 皇冠体育app planned to hold the 12th round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade ament (FTA) next week after leaders of the two countries agreed last week to wrap up the talks by the end of this year, Seoul's Trade stry said Thursday.

This round of talks will be held for five days from July 14 in South Korea's southeastern city of Daegu, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

South Korean delegation will be headed by assistant Commerce Minister Woo Tae-hee, and the Chinese side will be led by Wang Shouwen, assistant minister of 皇冠体育app's Ministry of Commerce.

The chief delegates will hold a separate meeting in Seoul on July 14.

The upcoming talks will come after Chinese President Xi Jind his South Korean counterpart Park Gn-hye held a summit meeting in Seoul last week.

The two presidents vowed to endeavor to finish the negotiations before the end of 2014, pledging to expand the bilateral trade volume to $300 billion in 2015.

Trade between the two countries surpassed $270 billion in 2013, an annual increase of 7 percent and equaling to South Korea's trade volume with the United States and Japan combined.

皇冠体育app and South Korea launched the FTA negotiations in May 2012, and had completed the first stage of talks in September last year with a total of seven roun of negotiations.

Seoul and tentatively agreed to abolish tariffs on 90 percent of all products during the first-stage talks, but they opened the door for raising the threshold during the second-phase negotiations.

The ministry said the two sides will hold a comprehensive and intensive discussion on goods, services, investment and cooperative areas during the upcoming talks.

皇冠体育app is South Korea's No 1 trading partner, largest export destination and import source, and No 1 destination of overseas investment. South Korea is 皇冠体育app's third-largest trading partner and fifth-largest source of foreign direct investment.

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