\n South Korea’s trade ministry said Tuesday that Guatemala has formally signed a deal to join Seoul’s free trade agreement (FTA) with a group of Central American nations.<\/p>\n
The inclusion came around three years after South Korea and five Central American nations — Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua — fully implemented their FTA in March 2021.<\/p>\n
“The inclusion of Guatemala, the largest economy of the region, has effectively completed the South Korea-Central America FTA,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement.<\/p>\n
South Korea mainly exports automobiles, fabric and petrochemical goods to Guatemala.<\/p>\n
Key imports from the Central American nation are agricultural products, including coffee and bananas, along with minerals, such as nickel and carbon.<\/p>\n
The state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy estimates that the inclusion will help South Korea’s gross domestic production advance by 0.02 percent within five years after the implementation.<\/p>\n
“As the two cou
\nntries agreed to remove most of the tariffs immediately or gradually, the bilateral business environment is anticipated to improve significantly,” the ministry said.<\/p>\n
The trade volume between the two countries came to US$454 million in 2022, down 13 percent from a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The agreement, meanwhile, calls for the parliament’s approval. The ministry said it plans to have the deal passed and implemented in the second half of 2024.<\/p>\n
Source: Yonhap News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Korea’s trade ministry said Tuesday that Guatemala has formally signed a deal to join Seoul’s free trade agreement (FTA) with a group of Central American nations.<\/p>\n
The inclusion came around three years after South Korea and five Central America…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n