Cambodia and South Korea have concluded their free trade agreement negotiations, a move closer to the signing of the pact within this year.

The announcement on the conclusion of the negotiations for the trade agreement between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Republic of Korea will be made on Feb. 3 at the Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra, Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.

The conclusion is made after four rounds of talks on the FTA’s draft started July last year.

H.E. Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce, has said recently that the two countries will try their best to get the pact signed within 2021.

It would be the second free trade agreement for Cambodia made bilaterally with its main potential trade countries.

The first Kingdom’s bilateral FTA is with China which was signed last October.

FTA between Cambodia and South Korea will come in the time of COVID-19 pandemic which will open more markets for Cambodian products, said H.E. Vongsey Vissoth, Delegate Minister Attached to the Prime Minister and Permanent Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

“The potential of Cambodia’s market remains huge,” H.E. Vongsey Vissoth underlined at the Public Forum on Macroeconomic Management and Budget Law 2021, held in Phnom Penh late last month.

“We have FTA with China and we are going to sign another FTA with South Korea soon,” he said.

The bilateral trade between Cambodia and South Korea was valued at US$884 million as of December 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 14 percent, according to figures from the Korean International Trade Association.

Last year, Cambodia exported US$317 million worth of products to South Korea, a decline of 18 percent compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom imported US$567 million worth of goods from South Korea, sliding down 5 percent.