Substantial progress has been made in the second phase of China South Korea FTA negotiations

On July 13, the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Ministry of industry, trade and resources of the Republic of Korea held a meeting of chief negotiators for the second stage negotiation of the free trade agreement (FTA) by video.
At a regular press conference held on July 21, Shu jueting, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said that according to the relevant provisions of the China ROK free trade agreement, the two countries launched the second phase of the China ROK free trade agreement negotiations to carry out high-level negotiations on trade in services and investment liberalization in a negative list mode. So far, the two sides have held nine rounds of formal negotiations and made substantial progress. Recently, the two countries held a department level meeting to reach a consensus on accelerating the follow-up negotiations. "China is willing to work with the ROK to maintain the momentum of negotiations, strive to reach a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement as soon as possible, further improve the level of openness and cooperation in service trade and investment between the two countries, and promote China ROK economic and trade relations to a new level."
"China and South Korea are important trading partners to each other." Shu jueting said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 30 years ago, China ROK trade has achieved leapfrog development. The bilateral trade volume in 2021 exceeded US $360billion, 72 times that of the year when diplomatic relations were established. The two sides have effectively connected development strategies, successfully implemented the China South Korea free trade agreement, steadily promoted the cooperation in jointly building China South Korea industrial parks, and continued to deepen third-party market cooperation, forming a deeply integrated, stable and smooth industrial chain supply chain system. At the beginning of this year, the entry into force and implementation of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP) provided a broader space for the two countries to further deepen economic and trade cooperation.
Data show that in the first half of this year, the bilateral trade volume reached US $184.25 billion, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year. "Against the background of the fragile recovery of the global economy, the trade between China and South Korea has maintained rapid growth, which fully shows that the economies of the two countries are highly complementary, and fully demonstrates the resilience and potential of bilateral economic and trade cooperation." Shujueting said.