FTA with South Korea set to take effect in October

By Bufete Mejía & Asociados

Central America’s free trade agreement with South Korea's is ready to begun on October 1, 2019, after South Korea’s Congress ratified the pact on August 2, 2019. As Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua have already ratified the agreement, South Korea will ask Panama to speed up its domestic legislature procedure.

Talks for the FTA started in 2015 and the agreement was officially signed on February 21, 2018. According to the document, the pact will ease duties on more than 95 percent of goods and secure a stable and predictable environment for investment, thus enhancing the country’s competitiveness in global markets while recognizing the differences in their levels of development and the size of their economies.

Among the main goals are raising living standards, promoting economic growth and stability, creating new employment opportunities, and improving the general welfare in their territories, by liberalizing and expanding trade and investment between territories.