Central America may start FTA talks with South Korea next year

2011-10-19

On October 16, 2011, the 10th Korea-SICA (Central American Integration System) Meeting on Dialogue and Cooperation took place in El Salvador, where Salvador’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaime Miranda confirmed that, after conducting a feasibility study this past April, Central America and South Korea would start negotiations over a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) next year. He added that the volume of Korea-SICA trade has been growing stably with a great potential to grow even further. Signing the FTA with South Korea could be a time-consuming process, but it will open up the Asian market for El Salvador, he noted. In 2010, Central American countries (excluding Panama and Belize) registered US$188 million and US$ 615 million in total exports to South Korea and imports from South Korea, respectively.