Looking to the East -- Peru and South Korea to discuss a FTA in March

Peru and South Korea have agreed to hold the first round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement this March, according to Peru's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Korean President, Lee Myung-Bak (left)

Peruvian President, Alan Garcia (right)
Photo: ANDINA /Jack Ramon

Preliminary work for the FTA was compiled in Lima January 20-21, days after the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) had concluded.

“At the preliminary talks, the two sides agreed upon the scale, formation, process and schedule of the Korea-Peru FTA, and together laid the groundwork for effective negotiations in the future," the ministry said.

The two sides will now examine each others drafts of the Agreement before meeting in March, at which point they will debate and hopefully find a middle ground on how to go about opening each market up to one another.

This is great evidence of something that has been written about on this site since its creation, that is—the Pacific countries of Asia and South America are finding cooperating in both economic and political contexts is beneficial for all parties and increasingly necessary in this global and interconnected world.