South Korea, U.S. Schedule Farm Talks

SOUTH KOREA - South Korea and the United States have scheduled agriculture talks early next month, officials said Wednesday, as part of ongoing free trade negotiations that are fast approaching a key deadline.
calendar icon 22 February 2007
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The talks will take place in Washington on March 5-6, just days ahead of the start of their eighth round of free trade negotiations on March 8 in Seoul, the officials said.

Representing the U.S. will be Ambassador Richard Crowder, the chief negotiator on agriculture issues in the free trade talks for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Robert Ogburn.

South Korea will be represented by Min Dong-seok, deputy minister for trade at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, said a ministry official, who could not be named in line with ministry policy.

Ogburn said similar agriculture talks took place in Seoul in November ahead of the sixth round of free trade negotiations that were held in the United States in December.

Agriculture has been one of a host of tough hurdles that negotiators are trying to clear ahead of a looming deadline for concluding the free trade deal.

South Korea has refused to include its rice market in the free trade talks, citing it as a "sensitive" area.

Rice will not be discussed in the upcoming talks in Washington, the South Korean official said.

Free trade negotiators for the two sides are running out of time as they must have an agreement on the table by the end of March to meet various requirements needed to take advantage of U.S. President George W. Bush's special trade powers that expire on July 1.

Source: KiplingerForecasts.com
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