Sixth round of Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiations to be held
The Korean delegation will be led by Chief Negotiator Kim Jong-hoon and will be composed of approximately 200 officials from related government agencies, including the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Information and Communication. The U.S. delegation will be led by Chief Negotiator Wendy Cutler and will consist of approximately 80 officials.
In this upcoming round of negotiations, a total of fourteen negotiating groups, excluding the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures group, the trade remedies group, and the autos and pharmaceutical products/medical devices working groups, will be holding meetings. The rules of origin and customs administration negotiating group will hold separate meetings in Seoul from January 23 to 25, 2007.
In the last fifth round of negotiations, talks in the trade remedies negotiating group and the autos and pharmaceuticals working groups were suspended. As the U.S. side failed to show progress in its stance on trade remedies since the end of the fifth round of negotiations, talks in these three groups will not be held during the upcoming round of talks.
* Nonetheless, discussions on trade remedies, autos, and pharmaceutical products and medical devices will continue at the Chief Negotiator level in this round.
In addition, the SPS group has agreed to not hold meetings in this round of negotiations (as was the case in the previous round), resulting from the U.S. position that talks in the SPS group cannot continue without progress first being made in the technical consultations on U.S. beef imports.
The Korean government will report its negotiating position for the upcoming sixth round of talks to the National Assembly's Special Committee for Concluding the KORUS FTA on Saturday, January 13, 2007.
이 보도자료는 Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade가(이) 작성해 뉴스와이어 서비스를 통해 배포한 뉴스입니다. 뉴스와이어는 편집 가이드라인을 준수합니다.