BRISBANE (Yonhap) — The leaders of South Korea and New Zealand said Saturday that their countries have struck a free trade agreement that will help boost mutual trade.
“The FTA will provide a basis to further expand and develop bilateral investment and trade,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a joint news conference with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key in Brisbane on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies.
Key also described the deal as a win-win agreement.
The agreement came more than five years after the two countries launched negotiations.
The two sides agreed to remove tariffs on more than 96 percent of all products traded between them within 20 years of the deal taking effect.
The deal should allow South Korean companies to compete in New Zealand on a more equal footing with other countries. Prior to the deal with South Korea, New Zealand inked free trade agreements with 15 countries, including China, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
South Korea and New Zealand plan to hold a legal review before formally signing a deal on the free trade agreement early next year, according to South Korea. The deal is subject to parliamentary ratification in both capitals before taking effect.
New Zealand agreed to immediately remove tariffs on South Korean washing machines and tires, and eliminate tariffs on auto parts, heavy construction equipment and refrigerators within three years of the deal coming into force.
The two sides agreed to exclude rice, a key staple food for Koreans, and other sensitive agricultural produce, including apples, garlic and chili peppers, from the deal.
The deal could help boost South Korea’s exports to New Zealand, which heavily relies on imports for most industrial products, South Korea said.
South Korea is New Zealand’s 41st-largest trading partner and New Zealand is South Korea’s 44th-largest trading partner.
Bilateral trade between the countries totaled US$2.8 billion last year.
Also Saturday, Park shared South Korea’s experience of lifting regulations with other global leaders at a retreat session of the G-20 summit.
Park also said she will reduce regulations that do not relate to people’s lives and safety by 20 percent by 2017.
Park has been pushing to lift or ease all but core regulations to help reinvigorate Asia’s fourth-largest economy, calling unnecessary business restrictions “our archenemy” and a “cancer.”
The summit, which runs through Sunday in Brisbane, brings together U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top world leaders for talks on a wide-ranging agenda, including anti-corruption, development and trade.
The G-20 economies represent about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85 percent of global gross domestic product and over 75 percent of global trade.
