Free- trade talks between South Korea and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) made notable headway Friday, potentially accelerating the realization of a concrete deal, Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday. Kim Han-soo, chief of the free-trade agreement (FTA) bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called on his European counterparts to work together so a mutually beneficial pact could be forged at the four-day-long inaugural meeting in Geneva, according to Yonhap dispatch from Geneva where negotiators also discussed intellectual property rights protection and government procurement policies. The EFTA, comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein and none of these states are members of the European Union. Kim was quoted as saying that he and his 93-member team set an outline for future dialogue and drafted an initial proposal on such matters as product trade and export and seafood imports.
