SEOUL, KOREA - Talks for a free trade agreement between Korea and New Zealand are expected to be resumed next February after three years and nine months of hiatus. Korean Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Yoon Sang-jick met on December 3 his counterpart, New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser, in Indonesia's Bali and agreed to hold a fifth FTA negotiation meeting in February next year.

 

The last meeting was held in May 2010 at Wellington, New Zealand's capital. The two nations had begun FTA talks in June 2009 with the first meeting in Seoul. In the upcoming fifth meeting, the two sides will discuss comprehensive issues including market access and ways to ensure mutual gains from the agreement.

 

In addition, the Korean representatives held a seventh FTA meeting with Australian counterparts on the same day, resuming talks with the country in three years and six months. Earlier on November 25, the Korean government's negotiators had held a meeting with Canadian representatives in Seoul, after five years and eight months.