S. Korea, China hold 17th round of FTA services and investment talks, eyeing broader market access

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is pressing ahead with follow-up negotiations to expand market access under the South Korea-China free trade agreement in the services and investment sectors.

The ministry announced Thursday that the 17th round of follow-up negotiations on services and investment under the South Korea-China FTA is being held in Seoul from Monday through Friday.

About 30 government delegates are taking part, led by Kwon Hye-jin, the ministry's chief trade negotiator, and Chen Chao, director general of the International Department at China's Ministry of Commerce, as the chief representatives of their respective sides.

South Korea and China launched the services and investment follow-up negotiations in March 2018 under guidelines for follow-up talks established when the FTA took effect in 2015, and have since held 16 official rounds.

A summit held in Beijing in January gave fresh momentum to the talks. President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at the time to work toward meaningful progress in the follow-up negotiations within the year, and both sides have since been accelerating discussions.

Bilateral goods trade currently stands at around $270 billion, while services trade amounts to only about $38.8 billion — a services share of 14.2 percent, well below the global average of 23.8 percent. There have been persistent calls to expand market opening in order to broaden the goods-heavy trade structure into the services sector.

"Based on the principle of mutually beneficial market opening, we will work to achieve tangible results in areas such as audiovisual and financial services, and to improve conditions for Korean companies seeking to expand overseas," Kwon said.

Kwon added that the ministry would "faithfully continue discussions on areas of mutual interest, pursue negotiating progress that serves the national interest, and do our utmost to further strengthen the foundation of economic cooperation between the two countries."