Monday, June 14, 2004
Singapore confident of FTA with S Korea this year
REUTERS
SEOUL: Singapore is confident that a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea can be wrapped up by the end of this year, Tony Tan, the deputy prime minister of the city state, said on Monday.
Singapore and South Korea, both trade-reliant economies, have been in talks to sign an FTA since January. The average trading volume between the two countries is now about $8 billion a year.
"Negotiators are quite confident the negotiations could be concluded by year-end," Tan told reporters during a World Economic Forum roundtable in Seoul.
Tan, also a coordinating minister for security and defence, said there were technical issues remaining but he did not see a major obstacle in the process.
"Another couple of rounds of talks will be needed but there are no fundamental issues to break down the talks," he said.
The fourth round of Singapore-South Korea FTA talks will be held in late July.
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