SEOUL -- South Korea, Japan and China made small but significant progress in their first round of talks aimed at signing a three-way free trade agreement (FTA), laying down a set of "detailed rules" on how future negotiations will proceed, Seoul's trade ministry said Thursday.
   
The first round of FTA talks between the three countries had been held here since Tuesday. Two more rounds of negotiations will be held before the end of the year with the second round slated to be held in China in June or July, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
   
"At this round of talks, the three countries adopted a set of detailed rules on negotiations that include basic principles and index of negotiations while also discussing related administrative issues, such as the scope of Korea-China-Japan FTA negotiations and how to set up working groups, that will be the foundation of future negotiations," it said in a released statement.
   
The ministry said the countries have also exchanged their initial positions on how future negotiations should proceed, as well as the list of items to be excluded from the reduction or removal of import tariffs under the proposed FTA.   

Seoul's Deputy Minister for Trade Choi Kyong-lim said the talks were "successful."   

"This week's talks did not cover any specifics, such as tariff rates or the scope of service market opening. They rather focused mostly on how the negotiations should be held in the future, but these are important details that may very well determine the direction of future negotiations," Choi, also Seoul's top FTA negotiator, told a press briefing.

"I believe we were successful in establishing trust between negotiators from the three countries, which may play the most important role as negotiations move forward," he added.   

With regard to how the FTA negotiations will proceed, the countries have agreed to simultaneously undertake separate negotiations on products, services and investment.   

For products, bilateral and trilateral negotiations will be held while negotiations for service and investment sectors will only consist of three-way talks, the ministry said.   

Despite his optimistic evaluation of the first round of talks, Choi said it may take some time for the countries to conclude their negotiations and actually strike a deal.

"Usually, it takes around one to three years at the least to conclude FTA talks with a large trading partner, but I think the ongoing talks (with Japan and China) may take some more time, considering the importance and size of the involved countries and the fact that they are three-way negotiations," he said.
   
Together, the three countries account for 20 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 17.5 percent of global trade, the ministry said earlier. Trade volume among the three countries amounted to US$5.32 trillion in 2010. (Yonhap News)
\