South Korean Parliament ratifies EU FTA
Brussels, 5th May 2011 - After years of negotiations, the final steps for a European Union-South Korea Free Trade Agreement has been completed with the ratification of the agreement in the South Korean National Assembly.
Even with strong objections from opposition lawmakers, a large number of which boycotted the vote, the agreement was passed with 163 votes in favour, one against and five abstentions.
Coupled with news that the EU has finalised a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with Indonesia which will prevent European companies from buying illegally-sourced wood from the country’s forests, this has proved to be a good week for International Trade in the EU.
Robert Sturdy, MEP for the East of England and Conservative Spokesman for International Trade and parliament’s rapporteur on the Korea-EU FTA, hailed the developments:
“It is a great relief to have the last steps of the EU-South Korea FTA completed. After years of hard work we can finally start to see the benefits that increased trade with South Korea will bring to the UK.’
“The EU-South Korea really is a landmark agreement for the EU but the hard work does not stop now. We are currently negotiating similar agreements with Japan, India and Canada to name but a few.”
Ends
For further information contact: Robert Sturdy MEP– robert.sturdy@europarl.europa.eu
Tel: 01954 211790 or 0032 2284 7294
