South Korea and Ecuador will adopt a Strategic Economic Cooperation Agreement(SECA), which is a type of free trade agreement(FTA).
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said trade minister Bang Moon-kyu and his Ecuadorian counterpart Daniel Legarda signed on Wednesday the joint statement announcing the conclusion of the negotiations for the Korea-Ecuador SECA in Seoul.
South Korea and Ecuador resumed SECA negotiations last July after the talks saw a hiatus of some six years due to differences of opinion. Since then, the two sides held four rounds of talks before concluding the negotiations on Wednesday. The latest trade pact is the 23rd FTA for South Korea to clinch.
Ecuador is regarded as a promising country for investment in Latin America and is rich in oil, minerals and other natural resources.
The trade volume between South Korea and Ecuador reached roughly 980 million U.S. dollars last year.
The government plans to officially adopt the South Korea-Ecuador SECA in the first half of next year and take steps to secure parliamentary ratification.
Source: KBS World
