Interview: Mr.Yu In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports & Tourism

Early last year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism set three main goals ― give people hope through culture; enhance the economic vitality through cultural contents; and build future-oriented, global Korea ― and suggested 10 tasks to achieve them.  These tasks are intended to give hope and comfort, create more jobs and encourage more investments. In the long term, the goals reflect the government's intention to reinvigorate the social atmosphere. For this purpose, the ministry set aside close to 3 trillion won in creating jobs in the culture, sports and tourism sectors and building culture and arts infrastructures to enhance the local quality of life.

The ministry also promised to establish more culture and sports facilities to live up to the standards of the OECD. On the business side, the cultural contents industry is the driving force of the next generation's economic growth, and the ministry has identified this sector to create quality jobs for young jobseekers through various programs. Furthermore, the production and development of next generation fusion content such as computer graphics will be supported. Future-oriented game technology will also be supported through a global game hub center for content development and experts will be hired to help open new businesses.
All these are just some of the plans that the Ministry has announced. To listen to more of the policy actions and vision of this ministry, I interviewed Minister Yu In-chon. The following are excerpts:

The Ministry’s policy vision is to develop a Happy Korea by expanding the societal and economic values of culture through:

• Resolving imbalance between regions and social classes in the culture, sports and tourism sectors, and spreading culture-sharing programs

• Ensuring the stabilization of the people’s livelihood through developing and spreading programs on adapting to an aging and multi-cultural society as well as programs on enhancing lifestyle such as developing more cultural and sports facilities

• Increasing fundamental investment in culture and arts to establish basis to foster a creative industry, developing contents and creating a business-friendly environment in the era of convergence, and encouraging private investment and facilitating employment in the culture, sports and tourism sectors to fuel national growth

• Planning and implementing symbolic national programs to build a strong national brand and promoting strategic cultural exchanges to ensure continuity of Hallyu

The Ministry’s priority for this year is to overcome the current economic crisis by implementing economic recovery programs that include:

• Instilling hope and courage to the public through culture in order to uplift the dampened public mood caused by the economic crisis

• Expanding employment opportunities and facilitating business investment activities to revive the economy as well as expanding support for export businesses

• Preparing for a low-carbon green growth society and building a stronger national brand

Approximately 14,000 social service jobs were created through early budget execution based on review of past achievements. There are plans to create 3,000 social jobs and develop more than 200 social-purpose enterprises in the culture and arts sector.

Based on expanding investment support in the area of contents and tourism, establishing and operating the global contents center, and pursuing strategic tourism marketing, this resulted in the gaming industry posting export growth of 35% and the number of overseas tourists increased 27% to 3.26 million in 2009 H1 compared to the same period last year.

The implementation of public-wide hope campaigns and programs (e.g. ‘Bokjumeoni Bongsadan’) during the first half of the year supported approximately 470,000 people in the poor and low-income class.

In an effort to establish cultural identity and national brand, the National Brand Committee was organized (Jan. 22), the establishment of the National Modern Museum on the old defense security command site was announced (Jan. 15), and the Steering Committee on Constructing the National Museum of Korea was organized (Apr. 16) in order to record and display the history of Korea’s development.

The economic crisis and the influenza outbreak has had a negative impact on the global tourism industry but in the case of Korea, there was a sharp increase in Japanese tourist numbers based on the foreign currency effect in late 2008 and early 2009.

As of July end, the number of foreign tourists increased 14.1% to 4.4 million compared to the previous year. It is likely that this year’s target of 7.5 million will be reached.

The new government has placed focused on the importance and potential of the tourism industry and is pursuing efforts to attract more foreign tourists by ▲initiating the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Year ▲ easing regulations and improving policies to strengthen competitiveness of the tourism industry ▲ fostering high-value added tourism industries such as MICE and medical tourism ▲ developing more unique Korean-style tourism contents and ▲ improving accommodation & restaurant facilities, tourist information service and visa process. Other ongoing plans will be carried out including efforts to enhance the value of Korea’s tourism brand and improve hospitality service.

As part of the effort to realize low-carbon green growth, the Ministry is in pursuit of facilitating green tourism using Korea’s natural resources and environment, and fostering low-cost high-efficient contents industry.

In order to facilitate green growth, the Ministry is working to develop a high-value added and converged tourism industry (e.g. medical care, MICE, performances and shopping), initiate the cultural eco tour called the ‘Journey of Thousand Miles Project’ featuring various historical and cultural stories, and transform used resources like closed railroads (22 tracks nationwide, 704km) and train stops into theme-type tourism resources.

The Ministry is also working to strategically foster the contents industry by acquiring global competitiveness in core contents (e.g. game, film) and developing next-generation converged contents (e.g. u-learning, virtual world), and strengthening the self-sustaining ability of the contents industry by establishing copyright protection systems and creating an environment of fair copyright usage.

Furthermore, the Ministry’s focus lies on realizing green revolution in everyday life. For example, the bicycle festival was held to encourage the public to ride bicycles, used and closed industrial facilities such as the Gunsan harbor are being transformed into cultural space, and educational-purpose game contents on the topic of climate change are being developed to shift the public awareness.

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Interview: Mr. Trevor Hill, Managing Director, Audi korea

The Audi AG, one of the world’s most successful car manufacturers in the premium segment, succeeded in maintaining its earning power in the first half of the year, despite the major challenges encountered on worldwide automobile markets and the difficult overall economic situation. In group succeeded in avoiding the effects of the negative overall market trend, and recorded a significant operating profit of 823 million euros. The Audi brand is also hitting its sales targets: in the first six months, approximately 466,000 cars were delivered.
In Korea too, the company has been performing exceedingly well, and is one of the most recognized imported car brands. Audi Korea currently captures about 12.5 percent of all vehicles imported to Korea, having sold 5,280 cars until September this year.
As noted by Mr. Trevor Hill, Managing Director of Audi Korea while the global market is down and the car import market in the country has decreased by 15 percent this year Audi is doing really well, as sales on average are up 40 percent from last year
“Our recent growth is largely the result of the company’s aggressive rollout of new vehicle models and our marketing strategy. Most of our customers are drawn to Audi’s sophisticated urban design, raising its brand recognition and further propping up sales. Audi also has outstanding advanced technologies in this field, including engine technologies and energy management systems,” he told me in an exclusive interview.
Audi’s core marketing strategies include maximizing premium brand image, strengthening dealerships and launching new models.
The Korean consumers identify with Audi’s sophisticated looks and design, and it is the most dynamic prestige brand. Audi vehicles are famous for their world-best design and high emotional quality. The company also has various advanced technologies such as a quattro permanent four-wheel drive system and TFSI engine technologies that enable more dynamic driving, he said.
The models that the company has launched this year include A5, A4, Q5, TTS, A4 2.0 TFSI, Q7 facelift and A6 facelift.
The A5 is equipped with the latest technology from the German carmaker including a driving system that allows the driver to choose from four different driving modes - comfort, auto, dynamic and individual - and adjust the car's performance and handling to fit each driving mode.
The new A4 2.0 TFSI is fitted with eight-speed multitronic step-less transmission. Its speed tops out at 210 kilometers per hour and the official fuel economy is 12 kilometers per liter. Mr. Hill noted that TFSI, a gasoline direct injection engine technology, has increased fuel efficiency up to 15 percent with more power compared to traditional gasoline engines.
Audi TTS comes with a 2-liter TFSI engine that puts out 265 brake horsepower. The coupe model of the vehicle is capable of accelerating to 100 kilometers per hour in 5.2 seconds. The zero-to-100kmh acceleration time is 5.4 seconds for the TTS Roadster. The vehicles are equipped with the six-speed S-Tronic dual clutch transmission.
The new A6 lineup consists of the A6 2.0 TFSI, A6 2.0 TFSI Dynamic, A6 3.0 TFSI Quattro and the A6 3.0 TFSI Quattro Dynamic.
“While most Audi vehicles are achieving good sales numbers, the A4 and A6 have been performing really well in the local market. Korean customers have very sophisticated tastes not only for design, but also for performance and driving pleasure,” he said.
The company has a sales network of 16 showrooms and 14 service centers nationwide. As for dealerships, it recently renovated a showroom in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, into the first dealership here built as an ‘Audi Terminal.’ Its second will be introduced in Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, later this year, which will be the largesdt showroom in Asia, he said.
The strategy that Audi has adopted is ‘lifestyle marketing’, whereby the company is focusing on customers’ lifestyles rather than just on vehicles. For this reason, the company regularly sponsors VIP events and gives their customers a chance to experience royal treatment.
"We invited the world-famous band Jamiroquai here for Korean customers and also invited our VIP customers to the most famous music festival, the Salzburg Festival. These are the examples of our lifestyle marketing activities, which only Audi customers can experience,” he said.
He also mentioned the company’s activities concerning golf, which have proven to be highly effective marketing instruments. Golf courses have become ideal places of business and have opened the door for talks with existing and potential customers. The Audi Quattro Cup places the relationship between buyer and seller in the foreground.
This year the Quattro Cup finals will be held in New South Wales Golf Club in Sydney, Australia from December 14th–18th, where the team from Korea will be competing.
He said one of the main priorities is to increase Audi’s brand power in Korea. While the company’s brand awareness in Korea has dramatically increased in the five years since the company’s establishment in 2004, the future holds much promise.
In this context, he also mentioned that the EU-Korea FTA negotiations which have been concluded and await ratification would provide a good opportunity for imported car manufacturers to increase their market share.
EU-Korea FTA
As regards cars, the elimination of tariffs will be extended to five years for certain types of vehicles. The EU has rejected Korea's proposal for the immediate abolition of tariffs on small cars. Tariffs on cars with an engine size of more than 2.5 litres would be scrapped within three years whilst tariffs for less powerful cars would be scrapped within five years.
As per the preliminary analysis, the domestic automobile market will experience heated competition due to formidable price competitiveness of EU-made vehicles, especially in the luxury car segment.
In 2008, the EU cars account for 53% of Korea’s import car market and mid- and full-size autos with over 1.5 liter engine displacements, in particular, take up an overwhelmingly large part of the Korea’s imported auto market. Moreover, since tariff on automobiles with over 1.5 liter engine displacements will be the first one to be removed, the EU’s mid- and full-size models will gain recognition earlier than small cars in the Korean car market.
“EU-made cars will also be attractive to consumers who had been buying inexpensive, mid- and full-size Japanese cars. Nowadays, the Korean automakers have been producing new models in the mid- and full-size vehicles in the premium tier, which will intensify the competition much more in the domestic market,” he said.
“However, we have information that some of our concerns regarding the barriers to trade in Korea have not been addressed in the FTA, especially with regard to fuel efficiency standards. That is something we will have to work on,” he said.
Speaking on the opposition to the deal by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which is worried about the “huge influx of Korean exports into the EU market, with little gain in exchange,’ he said that they had valid concerns.
“It will have a serious impact on employment in the European manufacturing sectors and is something that the respective member states will have to prepare for from the beginning,” he said.

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Interview: Mr. David-Pierre Jalicon,French architect

Thirteen years ago when Mr. David-Pierre Jalicon, a French architect , visited Korea as part of a French research delegation to help design the KTX bullet train, he hardly hand an inkling that he was destined to stay back in the country. His first trip took him across the length and breadth of the country along the present-day KTX route, when he traveled to better understand the Korean landscape.
During his researching, he landed other projects, including building the French School and French Cultural Center in Seoul. Within a year or so, he became the first and only French architect to own firms in both Korea and France.
Today his firm, D.P.J. & Partners is well known for expressing what French people aspired to in Korea. That aside, he has also completed several projects in Spain, Taiwan and Hong-Kong.
The firm has been certified by the Korean Government for "Off Set" Program as a Korean firm and therefore can participate in big international projects.
His experience spans several areas: architecture, environmental and urban design, interior design for office, residences and luxury brands. For example, he is the main architect for Cartier in Korea and several other Asian countries.
“The characteristic specific to the firm is to be able for each kind of project to provide a strong identity and to be very specific. Therefore through this same approach, the firm is organized around three divisions,” he told Infomag Real Estate.
The Architecture Division handles all kinds of buildings from Musical Theaters to Private Residence. The Interior Design, Renovation, & Decoration Division takes care of different kinds of interior, from Offices space planning to living spaces through shops and corners for the luxurious retail market. The third Division of Urban Art and Environment Design handles projects like bridges and urban plazas.
He noted that architecture should tell a story, reflecting the evolution of culture and tradition in the country. Therefore to better understand Korea and her people, he spent many months researching Korean history and customs. That really paid off, and today he can effortlessly blend traditional architecture and nature with modern constructions.
“What has always fascinated me in Asian architecture is that its construction form is associated with numerous signs and symbols which tell me stories and which project me a concept of the universe (TAO) and a global landscape (Geomancy). So, I try to produce an architecture which re-starts, so to speak, by using signs, symbols and meaning based on the traditional Korean values and philosophy,” he said.
The French School in Banpo, Seoul, was his first major project and it has got a lot of praise. As he notes, he wanted to build a symbol of French education and culture in a foreign country, whose design and details not only embraced the local culture but also created its own strong identity in the so-called French Town in Seoul.
In his words: “The façade screen is animated of little punctures that will not go unnoticed. They are in fact symbols drawn from Pa-Koua (Which can be seen on the Korean flag), that of the East in this case. It represents the energy of this direction where urban constraints and noise had barred any opening. This energy rupture from the East was all the more regrettable as in TAO, it represents childhood and growth. The symbols on the screen are here to regenerate it.”
He noted that the round shape of the building reflects very much the qualities recognized in French education: awakening, openness, movement, interdisciplinary nature and dynamism. It also brings a sense of friendliness to the classroom.
His next project was the French Cultural Center in Seoul, which was also well received. Infact these two projects landed him the Aqua-Art Bridge project that got him even more fame. The 75-meter-long, 4-meter-wide foot bridge features a 28-meter diameter ring structure which harbors a glass panel that runs water streams above a fountain and projects moving images.
The bridge also helped him land an even bigger project nearby. After Kim Sun-gyu, president of Seoul Arts Center, announced his plan to turn an old-fashioned opera house into a high-tech musical theater by 2006, he saw the plans for the Aqua-Art Bridge. Impressed, he and Seocho District Mayor Cho Nam-ho asked Mr. Jalicon for his ideas for the new theater.
They were especially intrigued by his idea of making the bridge a part of the new complex and picked him to head the project, which included transforming the neighboring Mt. Wumyeon and turning more than 10,000 pyeong (33,000 square meters) into a multi-functional cultural complex.
Since then, there has been no looking back. As his reputation grew so did the projects under his ambit.
Some of the other architectural projects that he has undertaken include SK View Oryukdo / Busan, Hoengseong Resort project, Didomi Housing / Kwangju, The World Garden Project / Banpo-dong, Donggeum-do house / Donggeum-do, Kuwait Embassy Residence Extension / Seoul, Louis Vuitton Building Extension, French Embassy Housing Project / Seoul and French Embassy Consular Building.
As regards environmentally friendly work, he undertook “NATURE-TECH ” Bridge in Bucheon, Architecture & Landscaping of Itaewon street, VLF TS Building & Civil Work, / Haenam, “Central Point” Bridge / Sapyoung-lo, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Memorial Hall for the French Soldiers in Korean War / Suwon, The Second Sungsan Bridge “The Four Sails Bridge” / Han river, Sangam millennium city, Seoul and “Memory” Bridge / Suwon, among others.
His interior and renovation work spans the projects of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Office, BNP Paribas Seoul Office, Oman Embassy Residence Renovation / Seoul, Renault Samsung Motors Kihung Research Center Hall Renovation, Group SEB Korea interior, French Korean Chamber of Commerce & Industry Office / Seoul, Cogema Korea Office / Seoul, Richemont Korea Head Office / Seoul, Hachette Next Media Office / Seoul, Bluebell Korea Office / Seoul, “Cartier” Residence Renovation / Seoul, Daimler Chrysler Office / Seoul, Head Office of Credit Agricole Indosuez Bank / Seoul, - Renault Samsung Motors Head Office / Seoul among others.
As he notes, architecture should be as fluid as the times. It should create a space with a new concept that constantly changes and moves along with people, trends, culture and ideas.

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Interview: Minister of Strategy & Finance Yoon Jeung-hyun

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) was established in March 2008 when the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Planning and Budget were merged to establish fair tax systems and efficient fiscal/economic policies. As the ministry that oversees the daily economics of the public, it is committed to the advancement of the domestic economy and establishment of growth dynamics through effective policy coordination, fair tax systems, public enterprise reform, systematic distribution of national resources, efficient budget management and active international cooperation. Playing a pivotal role in the Korean economy, the MOSF has to lead the way in the recovery from the current economic difficulties.
I interviewed Minister Yoon to find out his priorities.
The following are excerpts:

The fundamentals of Korea's economy are sound compared to other economies. Korea's financial sector is relatively healthy and measures for bank nationalization have not been taken. The nation holds sufficient foreign reserves and external debt structure is improving since September, 2008. As of the end of June 2009, Korea holds $ 231.7 billion, equivalent to the amount of current payment for 7.4 months, exceeding $ 185.8 billion of current foreign debt (as of the end of the 1st quarter of ‘09). External debt has also decreased from $ 422.5 billion in Sept. '08 to $ 380.1 billion in March '09. Plus, Korea is more fiscally sound than major economies.
At the same time, the Korean government is carrying out corporate restructuring in the public and the private sectors to address remaining unsoundness and inefficiency. It is too early to tell when the Korean economy will make a full recovery as uncertainty remains high. But we predict that the economy will grow further from previous quarter in the second half of this year and post growth rate close to the potential growth rate next year.
Although the Korean economy is projected to grow in the second half of this year, uncertainty remains high. There is a possibility that international financial market could slip into instability again and fiscal space could shrink along with exchange rate and oil price volatility and H1N1 pandemic. Under these circumstances, the Korean government is committed to making every effort to keep robust growth in the second half of this year.
First, until the economy makes a visible recovery, the government will maintain its expansionary macroeconomic stance while aggressively responding to negative factors such as real estate market.
Second, to secure a steady economic recovery driven by the private sector, the Korean government will continue to stimulate private consumption and investment.
Currently, we are exerting strenuous efforts to promote the domestic tourism market, draw more inward tourists, improve business environment and boost investment in R&D and new growth engines.
Third, for job security, Korea is doing its part to raise effectiveness of job policies including job creation in the service industry, start-up promotion and manpower training to meet industry demand.
Fourth, to ease the burden on low-income earners and small business owners who are hit hardest by the economic recession, the Korean government will continuously support them.
Although we experienced economic downturn in the 4th quarter of last year due to the global economic crisis, the economy is now bouncing back faster than other countries. Once recording negative growth in the fourth quarter of last year, Korea's economic growth turned positive in the first quarter of this year. Further, the economy increased 2.6% from previous quarter in the second quarter of this year. However, it is the government driving the economic growth through expansionary fiscal and easy monetary policies, while consumption and investment in the private sector remain sluggish.
The government will maintain its expansionary macroeconomic stance for a while, but private consumption and investment will be the key to steady economic growth. And I think this applies to other countries around the globe, too.
Therefore, to stimulate private consumption and investment, the government will create more jobs, support people's livelihoods, improve business environment and streamline regulations.
With foreign investment facilitation high on the agenda, the Korean government is establishing and carrying out measures needed to achieve the agenda. The aim is threefold: to improve investment environment, to upgrade incentive systems and to strategically draw foreign investment. First, to improve investment environment, Korea will foster a pro-business environment and provide more comfortable living conditions for foreign investors.
Currently, the government is implementing "3-Year Plan for Foreign Investment ('08~'10)," which is aimed at easing regulations on land use, adjusting the taxation system to the global standards and building more schools and clinics for foreigners.
Second, for foreign investors to use them more effectively and efficiently, we will upgrade existing three key incentive systems (e.g. tax cuts and exemption, financial benefit and support for land use).
Third, to strategically draw foreign investment, we will focus on industries such as high-value added industries including green growth industry and new growth engines.

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Interview: Lars Vargo, Ambassador of Sweden to Korea

On 1st July 2009, Sweden took over the Presidency of the EU. This means that for six months, Sweden is leading the EU's work and is responsible for moving important EU issues forward.
The Presidency of the European Council rotates between the Member States on a half-yearly basis. The country presiding over the Council functions as the driving force in the EU's legislative and political decision-making process.
This time around, it is a unique opportunity for Sweden to lead and influence work on important EU issues. At the same time, the country holding the Presidency must be flexible and prepared to deal with unexpected issues.
With the EU-Korea FTA agreement having been announced during the Swedish Presidency, I caught up with Lars Vargo, Ambassador of Sweden to Korea to for his views on the important tasks ahead.
First and foremost, he noted that there are many challenges during Sweden's presidency. The economic downturn still lingers with a high rate of unemployment. Moreover, in reaction to the threat of climate change, the world is expecting to gather in Copenhagen in December to discuss the post-Kyoto Protocol scenario.
“The financial and economic crisis has hit Europe and the rest of the world hard. At the same time, it is the Presidency’s task to represent the EU in the fight against global climate change,” he noted.
In addition, discord on the EU structure among the 27 member states makes the future a little unclear. A referendum will take place in Ireland in October, which many hope will lead to ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, an agreement on a new working system within the EU.
The Treaty is an international agreement signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 that would change the workings of the EU. It has not yet been ratified by all EU member states.
Prominent changes include more qualified majority voting in the EU Council, increased involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process through extended co-decision with the EU Council, eliminating the pillar system, preventing the provision in the Treaty of Nice reducing the number of commissioners, and the creation of a President of the European Council with a term of two and half years and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs to present a united position on EU policies. If ratified, the Treaty of Lisbon would also make the Union's human rights charter, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding.
The stated aim of the treaty is "to complete the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam and by the Treaty of Nice with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action."
Negotiations to modify EU institutions began in 2001, resulting first in the European Constitution, which failed in 2005 due to rejection by French and Dutch voters. The Constitution's replacement, the Lisbon Treaty, was originally intended to have been ratified by all member states by the end of 2008, so it could come into force before the 2009 European elections. However, the rejection of the Treaty on 12th June 2008 by Irish voters means that the treaty cannot currently come into force.
The Swedish Presidency will therefore be closing monitoring the situation.
The most important thing is to ensure that we will be able to gather the EU together to respond to the challenges that people care about and where strong European cooperation can make a difference.
“Together we must deal with the financial crisis and tackle the rising unemployment that is currently affecting the whole of Europe. We must also bring together the whole world to tackle climate change. These two priorities will dominate the Presidency,” he stressed.
But there are also other challenges facing Europe that the Swedish Presidency will be taking on. One is the development and strengthening of EU cooperation on justice and home affairs in the Stockholm Programme. Another task is to adopt an EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region, in order to deal with environmental problems and increase the region's competitiveness, along with continuing the work to develop the European Neighborhood Policy and EU enlargement.
EU expansion is also on the agenda, as Croatia and Turkey have shown interest in joining. Ambassador Vargo said they are welcome as long as they meet the standards of the EU as a prerequisite.
In addition, Iceland applied to join the European Union on 16th July 2009. The application was accepted by the European Council on 27th July and referred to the Commission to analyze Iceland's preparedness for negotiations. Iceland's government has a target date of 2012 for joining the bloc, which will be subject to a referendum in Iceland.
As part of the European Economic Area, Iceland is already a member of the EU's single market. It is also a member of the Schengen Area which removes border controls between member states.
To become a member of the EU, a country must first apply, and then the country must be recognized as a candidate country. For that to happen the country must fulfill the first of the Copenhagen criteria: the candidate country must be a politically stable democracy that respects human rights. Then a negotiation will take place which will consider the country's fulfillment of economic criteria, the country's degree of adoption of EU legislation, and whether there shall be any exceptions.
Ambassador Vargo said that the negotiations on an accession treaty would take less than a year, because Iceland has already adopted two-thirds of EU legislation in relation to the EEA. In any case the Presidency will prioritize Iceland's EU accession process, he said.
The Swedish Presidency will also work to strengthen the EU’s role as a global actor with a clear agenda for peace, development, democracy and human rights.
“We hope that together we can advance the EU’s agenda in an open, efficient and results-oriented manner during the next couple of months,” he said.
As part of the projects that have been planned in Korea for the Swedish Presidency, he said that the Embassy is working to publish a collection of European short stories in Korean, sometime in September.
Speaking specifically about the EU-Korea FTA, Ambassador Vargo said that the agreement would send strong signals against the use of protectionism throughout Europe and the rest of the world. It will bring new opportunities to both the economies.
In this present time of economic downturn it is more important than ever to make real progress on important trade issues, he said.
Ambassador Vargo noted that since the deal has effectively been announced, only the legal process remains now. It is unlikely to be derailed by the separate national parliaments. Every member state has had an opportunity to raise all its concerns throughout the negotiation process, and the final announcement was made when no one had any more objections. Also, the EU’s Article 133 Committee, in charge of the bloc’s trade policies, has cleared it, he said. It is a very important step in our relationship and indicates the dawn of a new partnership,” he said.
Although there is always some adjustment cost, FTAs are ultimately beneficial to both sides and there is a strong economic rationale. If one looks at the trade figures before and after trade agreements are negotiated, one can find that there is generally a very substantial increase in trade that takes place. Korea and the EU share a very dynamic business relationship with large investments on both sides and large amounts of goods traded, he noted.
Referring to the significance of the FTA in the context of the WTO Doha Development Agenda, he said that multilateral processes are essential to the world trade system and are not contradictory with bilateral processes. Both can go forward at the same time. Even though the EU is conducting bilateral agreements with many countries, it is also very keen to conclude multilateral agreements.

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