The first free trade agreement with Chile has brought an array of benefits to Korea in the past year, not least contributing to the speeding up of the nation's FTA talks with other trade partners.
South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said 12,644 local peach, kiwi and grape farms across the country have decided to halt operations since the FTA's ratification, indicating that the opening of the domestic market is taking a toll on the growers.
The Prime Minister says New Zealand is well down the track in negotiations with Chile and Singapore on a three-way free trade and investment agreement.
India and Chile have signed a Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation to promote expansion of trade by providing limited preferential access to each other initially.
The New Zealand, Chile and Singapore governments are promoting a P-3
whose primary - and arguably only - beneficiaries are the transnational companies that
straddle two of the three countries, including opportunists who locate there to take advantage
of the deal. The greatest potential beneficiaries are the agribusiness interests of Fonterra and
Nestle as they promote their shared strategy to dominate Latin America's dairy industry.
ARENA today stepped up its campaign against the proposed Chile/New Zealand free trade agreement, which forms part of the Pacific 3 (P-3) with Singapore, by launching a sign-on letter to the Prime Minister calling on her to end the negotiations.
Chile and Peru will start negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) in January, local press cited Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker as saying on Saturday.