Rice possibly put aside from Korea-US FTA,
Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ministry said
Regarding the FTA negotiation between Korea-US, Lee Myong Soo, Vice-Minister of agriculture and forestry reconfirmed on Feb. 17, “It could be possible to set aside rice from the lists of FTA negotiation, and we will persuade to include rice as an exceptional item.”
In a telephone interview with Pyonghwa Radio Station, he said, “It could be difficult to persuade the counterpart of the FTA negotiation to exclude rice as an exceptional item. But it is very important to exclude rice from items of the FTA negotiation, and I think it would be possible.”
Regarding renegotiation about import conditions for the US beef through the FTA negotiation table, he reconfirmed that the matter relevant to sanitation has already settled down, and it isn’t a matter to be discussed on the FTA table, stating “Since the FTA only aims to reduce tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers, the issue has to be negotiated by the other side.”
In addition, with regard to the matter whether or not FTA will have a negative influence on the state of Korea as a developing country, he accentuated that despite the completion of the FTA negotiation between Korea-US, it is not impossible that Korea can yield its state as a developing country.
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 02.18. 09:02
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