SEOUL, Oct 31 (Yonhap) -- A free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and Cambodia will go into effect as of November, the government said Friday.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the moves follows notification by Phnom Penh on Thursday that all domestic administrative and legal processes have been completed for the open trade regime, which is expected to greatly increase two-way trade.
Under the agreement, Seoul will immediately ax import duties on 10,658 manufactured goods made in the Southeast Asian country including those for various clothing and shoes. Tariffs on 108 farm and fisheries goods including bananas, pineapples, rice, beef and pork are to be excluded because of possible impact on the local economy, the ministry said.
"Importers that provide country-of-origin verification papers issued by Cambodia's commerce ministry could import goods free of duties starting Saturday," a official said.
Bilateral trade reached US$300 million last year, with South Korea posting a surplus of $270 million.
Cambodia is the ninth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member to ratify such a pact, with Thailand being the only holdover.
An FTA with Singapore went into effect on March 2006, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar in June 2007. Tariffs were cut for goods from the Philippines starting in January of this year, while those for Brunei Darussalam and Laos became effective in July and this month respectively.
South Korea is a late starter in the FTAs with its first going into effect in April 2004 with Chile. It has since ratified an FTA with the European Free Trade Association in September 2006, and signed a pact with the United States in late June, 2007 that is pending approval by lawmakers from both countries.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the moves follows notification by Phnom Penh on Thursday that all domestic administrative and legal processes have been completed for the open trade regime, which is expected to greatly increase two-way trade.
Under the agreement, Seoul will immediately ax import duties on 10,658 manufactured goods made in the Southeast Asian country including those for various clothing and shoes. Tariffs on 108 farm and fisheries goods including bananas, pineapples, rice, beef and pork are to be excluded because of possible impact on the local economy, the ministry said.
"Importers that provide country-of-origin verification papers issued by Cambodia's commerce ministry could import goods free of duties starting Saturday," a official said.
Bilateral trade reached US$300 million last year, with South Korea posting a surplus of $270 million.
Cambodia is the ninth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member to ratify such a pact, with Thailand being the only holdover.
An FTA with Singapore went into effect on March 2006, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar in June 2007. Tariffs were cut for goods from the Philippines starting in January of this year, while those for Brunei Darussalam and Laos became effective in July and this month respectively.
South Korea is a late starter in the FTAs with its first going into effect in April 2004 with Chile. It has since ratified an FTA with the European Free Trade Association in September 2006, and signed a pact with the United States in late June, 2007 that is pending approval by lawmakers from both countries.
7 comments:
"Tariffs on 108 farm and fisheries goods including bananas, pineapples, rice, beef and pork are to be excluded because of possible impact on the local economy"
Wonderful, besides shoes and cloths, what else can Cambodian peasants economy export to Korea? All the goods where Cambodian has comparative advantage over Korea, Cambodia cannot exports.
Don't deal with Damn Korean (dog eater) they said to pay our construction workers but broke their promise with our wage. Why the CPP government didn't go after them??
Construction Union Rep,
Phnom Penh
1:26 AM
We export blow up legs that we collect at the border.
Yeah, don't deal with the "Damn Korean" and let the Khmer people die from hunger. It's because of the Korean that Cambodia flourish. Land has gone up. Who invested most in Cambodia? Use your brain. Sure there are a few Korean investors that bail out cuz they didn't have enough money to go thru with their constructions or a few frauds....but that doesn't mean all of them are like that. Also they provided lots of jobs in Cambodia.
As for 1:26am....it's a shame that u look down on your own country and people. U have no pride in your own country. Cambodia has lots of resources... that's why we have so many enemies all around. Everyone wants a piece of our land!
On thing that is sure, the free trade will affect siem and yuon products.
So buy Khmer products and whatever we don't have buy Korean products.
Remember to boycott the yuon and siem products, we don't need invaders.
Cheers.
1:33 PM
Ah 1:26am is not Cambodian, his a son of a bitch Thai or Yuon.
I agree with you 1:33pm,
but our policy makers seem to go in the wrong direction. They read a few reports of world bank, ADB, etc. and come to the conclusion that: "the key to reduce poverty is agriculture"
Our government is not smart, they did not use common sense.
About 50 years ago, the S. Korean government was making a very smart decision. Her decision was against the expert's advise and the competitive theory that suggested "we should do what we can do best". The expert suggested that S.Korea should focus on agriculture, but the S.Korea government argued that "Even if we are successful in growing rice, we can not bring our people to the middle class if we focus on agriculture, we must industrialize our nation".
If OUR GOVERNMENT is focusing on industrializing the nation we will have great benefits from the free trade agreement, but do not hurry to reap the great benefits, J-curve first must be followed. Things get worth before it gets better.
NSW,AUSTRALIA
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