CECA with South Korea likely to be inked by July-end

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New Delhi, May 26 : Talks between India and Korea for a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) have entered the last mile with the pact expected to be signed by July-end. One important issue in services trade — allowing Indian education and health professionals to work in Korea — remains to be resolved and are expected to be finalised in talks scheduled from May 29 to June 2 in Seoul .

The meeting in Seoul will be the 10th and penultimate round of the CECA talks during which New Delhi would push for permission for its English teachers, doctors and nurses to work and/or set up shop in Korea, a senior official said. Korea has already agreed to India ‘s request for opening up its services market to professionals from software, engineering, financial services and telecommunication sectors.

However, Koreans are quite conservative regarding opening up of their education and health sectors, sources said. “Apart from some minor issues in services, most of the points on trade in goods and investment have been sorted out. We are entering the final leg of talks and by July-end or the first week of August we should be able to sign the CECA,” an official said.

India Inc had earlier asked the government to press for more market access for Indian service providers and professionals in the services market of Korea that is well developed and accounts for 52% of its GDP. The final agreement may also contain mutual recognition agreements in professional services to facilitate the entry of Indian professionals. According Ficci , Korea ‘s services imports was worth over $85 billion in 2007. However, India occupies only a marginal share of this. The bulk of Korea ‘s total services imports come from USA (around 25% share), EU (15% share), Japan (15%) and China (13%).

“Korea had improved upon its WTO commitments in major service sectors, for its FTA negotiations with USA . In the Asean-Korea FTA too, Korea’s offer in services goes beyond its WTO obligations and is better than its offer under the Doha Round. Therefore, Indian industry is also keen to secure concessions and market access for our service-providers — more than Korea’s present level of WTO commitments. In the absence of any deep commitment in services, the agreement will not add much value to India ,” Ficci senior director Manab Majumdar said.