India, South Korea may update free trade agreement

India and South Korea will discuss ways to improve the free trade agreement in the field of tariffs on goods and services and investments, Azernews reports, citing foreign media.

India is seeking increased market access for some products (steel, rice and shrimp) from South Korea, in order to increase exports of these goods. There is a tariff quota of 500 thousand tons for rice in South Korea. In accordance with this, South Korea provides a quota of 480 thousand tons to five countries - China, Australia, the United States, Thailand and Vietnam - and the rest of the countries have a quota of only 20 thousand tons.

"India is in a different category. Therefore, we demand either to include India in a special category of countries, or to increase the quota. In South Korea, the import duty on rice is 513%," said an Indian government source.

The bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and South Korea entered into force in January 2010, and in 2015, both sides began negotiations to revise it to better reflect the changing global trade environment. The last negotiation session took place in November 2022 after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other problems.