United Kingdom-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

Greg Hands Excerpts

Wednesday 17th April 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Trade Policy (Greg Hands)]

The second round of United Kingdom-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement negotiations took place during the week commencing 18 March 2024. A delegation of officials undertook technical discussions in-person in London with some talks taking place virtually.

We were pleased to host the RoK delegates for the first home round in London. During the round, technical experts from both sides came together for discussions in 22 separate sessions covering 17 policy areas, including professional and business services, cross-border trade in services, domestic regulation, financial services, mobility, investment, digital, sanitary and phytosanitary, technical barriers to trade, gender, procurement, competition, state-owned enterprises, small and medium enterprises, goods regulatory practice, and labour. This round of negotiations was an opportunity to hold further exploratory discussions. Chapter negotiators focused their discussions on establishing a more detailed understanding of the outcomes the UK and RoK are seeking and began to share early text proposals to work from.

The third round of negotiations is due to take place in June 2024.

HM Government remain clear that we will not sacrifice high-quality outcomes for speed and will continue to pursue a deal which delivers the best outcome for the United Kingdom. We will not compromise on our high environmental and labour protections, or public health, animal welfare and food standards, and we will maintain our right to regulate in the public interest. We are also clear that during these negotiations, the NHS and the services it provides are not on the table.

[HCWS411]