Guatemala to join FTA with South Korea

By Mayora IP

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei stated that Guatemala has strengthened conversations to join the Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and Central America.

South Korea and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua fully implemented their FTA in March 2021. Although Guatemala was also initially among dialogue partners, it stepped out during negotiations.

Guatemala is one of the largest market for Korean goods in Central America. The country hosts business activities of some 7000 Koreans and about 150 Korean companies are in the country.

according to the ambassador, and the accession of Guatemala to an FTA between Korea and rest of the Central American countries would strengthen the textile industry, which accounts for around 80 percent of South Korea’s investment in Guatemala.

Last year the two sides took note of the advances in the Korea-Guatemala relations in various sectors since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1962, and agreed that the two countries, of which the year 2022 marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations, need to further expand and advance the ties of cooperation in areas such as infrastructure and digital transformation, as well as hoping to increase bilateral trade and investment.