As for goods and services trade and investment, the tripartite talks focused on ways to liberalize services and investment. (image: Namu Lim/flickr)
SEOUL, Sep. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea concluded their fifth round of Free Trade Agreement talks in Beijing for five days between September 1 and 5.
The latest negotiations were led by South Korean Assistant Commerce Minister Woo Tae-hee, China’s Assistant Commerce Minister, Wang Shouwen, and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Yasumasa Nagamine.
In the last week’s talks, a total of 18 agendas were discussed which include competition, general provisions, intellectual property rights, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, technical barriers to trade, environment, government procurement, e-commerce, financial services, telecommunications, and immigration, as well as trade in goods and services and investment.
As for goods and services trade and investment, the tripartite talks focused on ways to liberalize services and investment. But the three sides were unable to reach a consensus. The sixth round of talks is scheduled to be held in Tokyo in late November. The brief statement did not provide further details on the talks.
China, Japan and South Korea launched the FTA negotiations in November 2012 during a series of meetings among East Asian leaders in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. China, Japan and South Korea are major economies in East Asia with a combined population of over 1.5 billion people while accounting for 20 percent of the world’s GDP.
By Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
