South Korea’s National Assembly on Tuesday ratified the free trade agreement (FTA) with Cambodia, the South Korea’s state news agency -Yonhap reported on Sept. 27.
The ratification came as South Korea signed an FTA with Cambodia in October last year.
The Korean government will notify Cambodia of the completion of all due domestic procedures and have a consultation with them on when to have them go into effect, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy was quoted as saying.
Cambodian Minister of Commerce H.E Pan Sorasak and his South Korean counterpart H.E. Yeo Han-koo singed the Cambodia-Korea Free Trade Agreement on Oct. 26 via video link.
The CKFTA will become effective 60 days after both sides have completed their internal procedures and deposited their respective instrument of ratification.
Under the CKFTA, coupled with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Kingdom will lift tariffs on 93.8 percent of goods traded, with South Korea scrapping duties on 95.6 percent, according to Yonhap.
Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia H.E. Penn Sovicheat has said that the CKFTA will provide more than 10,000 Cambodian items duty-free access to South Korea.
According to the General Department of Customs and Excise, in the January-August period of 2022, bilateral trade between the two countries totalled US$550 million, marking a 6.4 percent rise year-on-year.
Of that, Cambodian exports were recorded at US$156 million, up by 21 percent, and imports were US$393 million, an increase of 1.5 percent.
