Korea-UK Hold 4th Round of FTA Improvement Talks

Official Negotiations to Be Held in London, UK from the 10th to the 14th

Jin-Kyo Jeong, Chief Negotiator of Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, is speaking at the '1st Korea-UK FTA Improvement Negotiation' held on the 23rd at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The 4th official negotiation for the improvement of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the United Kingdom will be held from the 10th to the 14th in London, UK.

The Trade Negotiation Headquarters of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that more than 60 representatives from both countries will participate in this negotiation, with Kwon Hye-jin, FTA Negotiator from the Korean side, and Adam Fenn, Deputy Director of the Department for Business and Trade from the UK side, serving as chief representatives respectively.

After the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit), the two countries concluded a Korea-UK FTA at the level of the Korea-EU FTA. Since then, they have been conducting improvement negotiations since 2023 to deepen trade, investment, and economic cooperation between the two countries and to reflect new and improved norms in new trade areas such as trade and gender equality, digital trade, and the bioeconomy.

At the 4th improvement negotiation to be held this time, detailed discussions will be conducted in 13 subcommittees including the goods agreement text, supply chains, digital trade, government procurement, and the bioeconomy, and substantial discussions for the conclusion of the FTA improvement negotiations are expected.

Kwon Hye-jin, FTA Negotiator, said, "In a situation where uncertainties in the domestic and international trade environment are gradually intensifying, the need to expand trade and investment between Korea and the UK and to strengthen cooperation between companies in new promising fields is higher than ever." She added, "We will focus on improving business-friendly rules of origin, cooperation in bio and supply chains, and establishing digital norms in the FTA improvement negotiations."