European Union Ambassador to Korea Tomasz Kozlowski said that the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement which went into force in July 2011 gives Korean companies comparative advantages to enter into the European market compared to Japan and other countries without an FTA with Europe.

Kozlowski made the comments during a breakfast CEO Academy organized by the Korea Importers Association at the Palace Hotel Seoul on Thursday.

The FTA is Europe’s first with an Asian nation.

The 27 member states of the EU do not have separate trade policies, so the role of the EU ambassador in Korea is crucial in strengthening trade ties between wealthiest economic region in the world and East Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Korea is a “strategic partner” of Europe, one of only 10 such designations.

The FTA eliminates tariffs for industrial and agricultural goods in a step-by-step manner.

Korea is Europe’s 10th-largest trade partner, and the EU is South Korea’s fourth-most important export destination, after China, Japan and the United States.

Two-way trade in 2011 stood at about $88 billion, with a slight $5 billion tilt toward Korea.

That deficit shrank by more than 50 percent from a high of $13 billion in 2000. That is because European exports doubled from 2000 while imports from Korea increased by only one-third.

Kozlowski emphasized that the EU-Korea relationship is about more than just trade goods.

“We are expanding our political partnerships in the global context as Korea is becoming an important international player,” he said. “We cooperate on stability in the Middle East, countering piracy in the India Ocean.”

“We are not just economy and trade partners,” he said.

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)