Chile and South Korea discussed plans to upgrade their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) during a meeting on July 23, 2015.
The two sides used the meeting to define the steps to be taken to modernize the agreement, which has been in place for eleven years.
It was tentatively agreed at the meeting that the two countries will meet in November to hold further discussions on upgrading the agreement.
Pablo Urria, the Director of Bilateral Economic Affairs at Chile's General Directorate for International Economic Affairs (DIRECON), said that 370 Chilean products, mostly from the agribusiness sector, do not receive preferential tariff treatment under the current FTA.
Meanwhile, South Korean officials expressed interest in simplifying the rules of origin.
The Chile-South Korea FTA was the first such agreement signed between an Asian country and a Latin American country.
Trade between Chile and South Korea increased two percent year-on-year in 2014, totaling USD7.08bn. Chile's exports to South Korea totaled USD4.8bn, while its imports from South Korea reached USD2.3bn.
This has been excerpted from the 31 July 2015 edition of Tax-News and is available in its entirety at: http://www.tax-news.com/news/Chile_Korea_To_Upgrade_FTA____68745.html