STH Korean, Vietnamese Customs Chiefs Agree on Trade Cooperation

SEOUL, May 7 Asia Pulse - The customs chiefs of South Korea and Vietnam Wednesday promised to dispatch their staff to each others' nation "as soon as possible" to help boost bilateral trade activities by helping resolve possible trade disputes, officials said.

The 12th Customs Cooperation Conference was held in Hanoi between Hur Yong-Suk, head of the Korea Customs Service, and his Vietnamese counterpart, LE Manh Hun, according to the Seoul service.

Hur also urged Vietnam to retroactively apply a law being pursued to enforce tariff cuts promised for this year, a demand designed to help Korean companies in Vietnam recoup taxes they paid due to a delay in its enactment, the service added.

"This year's meeting carries a very important meaning as it was the first gathering since both nations saw the FTA go into effect," Hur was quoted as saying by the service. "We explained our demands sufficiently and Vietnam mostly accepted them."

South Korea and nine of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) including Vietnam signed an FTA on merchandise in April last year with the deal going into effect in June.

After the deal, trade between South Korea and Vietnam surged. Between June of 2007 and March this year, total bilateral trade volume jumped 47 per cent to US$7.18 billion, compared with the US$4.89 billion recorded during the previous 10 month period, according to the service.

(Yonhap)

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