BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 12
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
South Korea plans to accelerate work on concluding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Uzbekistan, Trend reports referring to gazeta.uz.
The issue was mentioned by the President of South Korea Moon Jae-in in his New Year address.
“We will expand exchanges and cooperation with partner countries on the New South and New North Policy by speeding up the FTA negotiations with the Philippines, Cambodia and Uzbekistan,” he said.
At the end of July last year, public hearings were held in Seoul regarding the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. Prior to this, the countries conducted joint studies on the feasibility of concluding such an agreement.
In September, it was reported that South Korea was finalizing internal procedures for preparing an agreement, after which the countries would begin formal negotiations.
According to the information, South Korea ranks fourth in the list of Uzbekistan's main foreign trade partners. The trade volume between the two countries, according to the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, from January through September 2020 amounted to $1.599 billion with $1.565 billion imports and $34.1 million exports. In 2019, it amounted to $2.755 billion (imports - $2.661 billion, exports - $93.6 million).
It was noted that, Uzbekistan was the 35th largest export destination for South Korea in 2019.
In August, South Korean media reported that Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev could visit Seoul by the end of 2020, but the visit did not take place.
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