South Korea stopover for talks

Tim Groser. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

Trade Minister Tim Groser hopes to kickstart free trade negotiations with South Korea in a brief visit to the capital, Seoul, on his way back from the World Trade Organisation's World Economic Forum this week.

Groser leaves for Davos, Switzerland, tomorrow where he will meet other trade ministers from the world's largest economies and those deemed "helpful" to the forum.

Groser said the meetings he will attend will likely sketch out the WTO's work agenda for this year's Doha round.

On the way back he will stop in Seoul and meet his South Korean counterpart "to see if we can get this FTA with Korea moving forward".

Groser said trade talks with South Korea have been in difficulty for some time largely because of issues around trade in agricultural goods. The talks were launched in 2009 and have only inched forward since then with progress complicated by South Korea's trade talks with the US and to a lesser extent those with the European Union.

South Korea has now struck a deal with the US, "and I'm going there now to test the waters to see if they are ready to move forward with New Zealand".

"There's still tremendous opposition in Korea toward liberalising agriculture and there can't be a deal than New Zealand can sign off on that doesn't improve in a material sense our position on agriculture."