Trade ministers meet to plan potential joint free trade deal
By Kelly Olsen |
May 24, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TRADE ministers from China, Japan and South Korea yesterday praised efforts to explore a potential joint free trade deal to boost commerce among three of Asia's biggest economies.
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming, South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki Naoshima met in Seoul for one day of talks.
The three countries, which represent 18.6 percent of the global economy as measured by gross domestic product, have been holding trilateral meetings at the trade minister level since 2002. Japan is Asia's largest economy with China close behind. South Korea ranks No. 4 behind India.
China, South Korea and Japan earlier this month in Seoul held the first meeting of a joint committee consisting of representatives from government, business and academia to study a free trade agreement.
Chen, Kim and Naoshima said in a statement that they hoped the study, targeted for completion by 2012, would "contribute to deepening the already mutually beneficial economic interactions among the three countries towards the realization of economic integration of the region in the long term."
As that language suggests, achieving such an ambitious deal would likely take years. Efforts by South Korea and Japan, for example, to reach a bilateral free trade agreement have gone mostly nowhere largely because of disagreement over how to handle trade in rice.
South Korea has been the most forceful among the three countries in pursuing bilateral free trade deals.
Seoul has pacts in force with Chile, Singapore, India, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Free Trade Association, which comprises Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
It has signed a deal with the United States and concluded talks on one with the European Union, though the agreements remain unratified. Seoul is also negotiating eight other agreements with Australia, Canada, Mexico, Turkey and others.
Yesterday's meeting came as concerns grow over the state of the world economy amid Europe's debt crisis, which has shaken financial markets and raised fears over a possible broader impact on commerce.
Global trade, which plummeted in the wake of the global financial meltdown in late 2008, is expected to rebound this year, the World Trade Organization said in March. Trade volume will grow 9.5 percent this year after contracting 12.2 percent in 2009, the biggest decline since World War II, the WTO said.
The ministers did not mention current financial unease in their statement, though said they "support the open and fair multilateral trade regime of the WTO" and highlighted the need to "fight against protectionism in any form." They also vowed to work toward an "ambitious, balanced and early conclusion" of a stalled global trade agreement, the Doha round, within the WTO.
They also said they would cooperate before the Group of 20 holds summits this year.
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming, South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki Naoshima met in Seoul for one day of talks.
The three countries, which represent 18.6 percent of the global economy as measured by gross domestic product, have been holding trilateral meetings at the trade minister level since 2002. Japan is Asia's largest economy with China close behind. South Korea ranks No. 4 behind India.
China, South Korea and Japan earlier this month in Seoul held the first meeting of a joint committee consisting of representatives from government, business and academia to study a free trade agreement.
Chen, Kim and Naoshima said in a statement that they hoped the study, targeted for completion by 2012, would "contribute to deepening the already mutually beneficial economic interactions among the three countries towards the realization of economic integration of the region in the long term."
As that language suggests, achieving such an ambitious deal would likely take years. Efforts by South Korea and Japan, for example, to reach a bilateral free trade agreement have gone mostly nowhere largely because of disagreement over how to handle trade in rice.
South Korea has been the most forceful among the three countries in pursuing bilateral free trade deals.
Seoul has pacts in force with Chile, Singapore, India, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Free Trade Association, which comprises Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
It has signed a deal with the United States and concluded talks on one with the European Union, though the agreements remain unratified. Seoul is also negotiating eight other agreements with Australia, Canada, Mexico, Turkey and others.
Yesterday's meeting came as concerns grow over the state of the world economy amid Europe's debt crisis, which has shaken financial markets and raised fears over a possible broader impact on commerce.
Global trade, which plummeted in the wake of the global financial meltdown in late 2008, is expected to rebound this year, the World Trade Organization said in March. Trade volume will grow 9.5 percent this year after contracting 12.2 percent in 2009, the biggest decline since World War II, the WTO said.
The ministers did not mention current financial unease in their statement, though said they "support the open and fair multilateral trade regime of the WTO" and highlighted the need to "fight against protectionism in any form." They also vowed to work toward an "ambitious, balanced and early conclusion" of a stalled global trade agreement, the Doha round, within the WTO.
They also said they would cooperate before the Group of 20 holds summits this year.
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