Chinese President Xi Jinping and Korean President Park Geun-hye exchanged congratulatory letters on the official signing of the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Korea on June 1.
Xi pointed out in his letter that China and Korea are close geographical neighbors and share similar cultures with strong economic complementarity. At present, China has become Korea’s biggest trade partner and the largest overseas investment destination. Korea is also the third biggest trade partner and the fifth largest overseas investors.
Xi emphasized that as the important economies of East Asia and the Asian-Pacific region, the signing of the FTA between China and Korea is a landmark event and will not only promote the bilateral trade and economic relationship to realize a new leap and bring more tangible benefits to the peoples of the two countries, but also make a greater contribution to the economic integration of East Asia and the Asian-Pacific region, and to the development of the global economy.
Park Geun-hye pointed out in her letter that she was glad to see that China and Korea signed the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Korea and would like to jointly celebrate with President Xi. The cooperative relationship between China and Korea has obtained the exponential development since the establishment of the diplomatic ties in 1992 and the two countries enjoy a friendly and close relationship. Being an institutional framework of the future cooperation, the China-Korea FTA guides the future cooperative direction of the two countries from the long-term and strategic level, brings more opportunities and benefits to the enterprises and the peoples of the two countries, improves the status of the two countries in the international community and becomes the historic milestone of deepening the “strategic cooperative partnership”.
Park Geun-hye pointed out that Korea and China should work together to enable the peoples and the enterprises of the two countries to fully take advantage of the China-Korea FTA to enjoy more privileges. The China-Korea FTA will make a positive contribution to not only the overall prosperity of the two countries and East Asia, but also the economic growth of the whole world.
The Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng represented the Chinese government to sign the China-Korea FTA with the Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick in Seoul.
