ASEAN Korea ROK Free Trade Area (AKFTA)

Course summary ASEAN Korea ROK Free Trade Area (AKFTA):

ASEAN-ROK Agreement on Trade in Services. Comprehensive Economic Cooperation. Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia.

The Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation was signed by the Leaders at the 9th ASEAN - South Korea ROK Summit on 13 December 2005. The ASEAN-ROK Free Trade Area (AKFTA) was realised on 1 January 2010. The ASEAN-ROK Agreement on Trade in Services was signed by nine ASEAN Member States and the ROK at the sidelines of the 11th ASEAN-ROK Summit on 21 November 2007 in Singapore.

The Framework Agreement provides for an ASEAN-ROK Free Trade Area by the year 2008  for the ROK, 2010 (with flexibility to 2012) for Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, 2016 for Vietnam and 2018 for Cambodia, Laos PDR, and Myanmar.

ASEAN-ROK (Korea) trade remains robust despite the global economic and financial crisis. Compared to the 22.6% decline in global trade in 2009, the total trade between ASEAN and ROK showed a strong performance in 2009 with only a slight decline of 4.5% from the previous year, reaching the level of USD 74.7 billion from USD 78.3 billion 2008. The bilateral trade volume between ASEAN and the ROK nearly tripled from the period 2001 to 2008 from US$ 32 billion to US$ 90 billion.

The 2009 value of total trade between ASEAN and ROK was much higher than its pre-crisis level, which was USD 61.2 billion in 2007.

Example of the course ASEAN Korea ROK Free Trade Area (AKFTA):

 Educational level: Continuing education / Executive education programs.

Topic: Globalization and regionalization