Korea, Colombia to speed up FTA ratification

President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with her Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos at the presidential palace in the country's capital city of Bogota, Friday. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

President Park Geun-hye and her Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos agreed Friday to accelerate efforts toward ratification of their free trade agreement (FTA) that was signed more than two years ago.

Park, on a visit to the Colombian capital city of Bogota, held a summit at the presidential palace and discussed ways to boost the bilateral economic ties.

Colombia is the first leg of Park’s trip to four South American countries that also include Peru, Chile and Brazil through April 27.

In February 2013, Korea signed the bilateral free trade deal with the resource-rich Colombia, becoming the latter’s first Asian country to ink the agreement. Colombia is Seoul’s 10th FTA partner and third in South America.

The National Assembly approved the FTA in April 2014, but the ratification of the pact met challenges in Colombia due to the backlash from people in the auto and electronics industries.

Colombia is one of the four largest economies in Central and South America and the FTA ratification is expected to offer new business opportunities to Korean companies.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, leaders of 125 local companies - the largest business delegation - are accompanying President Park.

“The ratification of the Korea-Colombia FTA will help Korea take one step forward to completing an FTA belt with Pacific rim countries,“ said Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs. He added it will contribute to the nation opening a new era of trade with major countries on the Pacific coast like Canada, the United States, Peru and Chile.

Following the summit, the two heads of state attended the signing ceremony of memorandum of understanding (MOU) in five sectors, including electronic trade and financial support.

Ahead of the summit, Park attended the Korea-Colombia business forum and delivered a speech regarding the future direction of the bilateral economic cooperation.

President Park`s visit to four countries in South America is expected to create an opportunity to build trust with leaders there and to help develop co-prosperity, according to Park’s office.

The combined gross domestic product of the four countries stood at $3.1 trillion, about half that of 33 South and Central American countries.

The government believes that large-scale projects meant to modernize infrastructure on the continent could offer new business opportunities to Korean builders.

Colombia has long been tied closely to Korea. It was the only nation in either Central or South America to have participated in the Korean War.