South Korea and India agreed to work towards sealing a comprehensive economic partnership agreement by the end of this year, DPA QUOTED SOURCES OF the Seoul Foreign Ministry as saying Wednesday. The agreement came at meetings that South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min Soon held this week with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in New Delhi, the ministry said. Both sides "exchanged views on important issues and the situation in South Asia," a statement read. At the meetings, Song and the Indian officials shared an understanding to make efforts to conclude the partnership negotiations within the year, it said. While a free-trade agreement is aimed at liberalizing the trade of goods, services and investments, a partnership would expanding the scope to economic and technological cooperation. The countries held five rounds of negotiations since March 2006, and a new round began in Seoul on Tuesday. South Korea just successfully concluded negotiations on a free-trade agreement with the United States on Monday. That pact, if approved by the US congress and the South Korean parliament, would be the largest for the US since the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994, and the biggest such agreement for South Korea. South Korea already has trade pacts with Chile, Singapore and the European Free Trade Association, consisting of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. It is also in trade negotiations with Canada as well as Japan and has begun preparatory work for seeking agreements with other major economies such as China and the European Union.
