India, South Korea to meet again on CEPA

NEW DELHI: India and South Korea will begin a fresh round of talks here on Tuesday to sort out a host of issues relating to the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement that involves opening up the markets for trade of goods and services between the two countries.

A team of officials from Seoul will engage in four-day talks with their Indian counterparts, discussing rules of origin and coverage of items in the pact.

India and South Korea have already held seven rounds of talks on CEPA, which includes agreement on investment.

Commerce Ministry officials said that the talks will be technical in nature covering tariff structure and the kind of protection required for each of the CEPA partners.

The protection is given in the form of a small negative and sensitive lists. However, the agreement has to cover substantial amount of trade as per the WTO definition.

An AFP report quoting Korean government from Seoul said that the two sides will give details of their initial offers on tariff.

Seoul and New Delhi started talks on CEPA, similar to a free trade deal, in March 2006.

Apart from Korea, India is negotiating similar agreements with several countries and blocs including Japan, Asean, Thailand, Gulf Cooperation Council and China.