Europe steals a march on the US by ratifying a sweeping free-trade agreement with South Korea

摘要

The European Union said 16 September that it would sign its first pact with an Asian trade partner: South Korea. The deal was set to be signed at a meeting of the EU and South Korea to be held in October in Brussels, Steven Vanackere told a news conference there. Mr Vanackere is the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Belgium, which holds the Union's rotating presidency. He said that the agreement would take effect 1 July 2011.