South Korea and Mexico on Saturday agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and to push for resuming talks for a free trade deal, the South Korean prime minister’s office said Sunday.

The agreement was made between Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Kim’s office said.

Kim is in Mexico City as part of an eight-day trip until Thursday that will also take him to the United States and Canada.

Kim attended the inauguration of the new Mexican leader on Saturday (local time) and delivered a letter from South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

During bilateral talks with Nieto following the ceremony, the two sides discussed a wide range of issues of mutual concern, including pushing for negotiations on a free trade deal and how to remove constraints for South Korean companies hoping to advance into Mexico.

South Korea and Mexico launched free trade talks in 2007, but the negotiations have been stalled since the second round in 2008 due in part to concerns in Mexico that such a pact could widen its trade deficit with South Korea.

On the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony, Kim held bilateral talks with his Uruguayan and Guatemalan counterparts.

In a meeting with Guatemalan President Otto Fernando Perez Molina, Kim asked for support for South Korean companies running operations there.

Some 150 Korean firms run businesses in the Central American country and hire more than 80,000 local employees. Of those, about 110 firms are in the textile industry, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the country’s total.

Perez vowed “extra care for South Korean companies’ safety to further promote investment,” and asked for Seoul‘s help to improve its security.

During Kim’s talks with Uruguayan Vice President Danilo Astori a day earlier, they agreed to join efforts to deepen economic cooperation between Seoul and the Mercosur, South America’s leading trading bloc.

After a meeting with Koreans living in Mexico, Kim will fly to New York to meet compatriots working at the United Nations headquarters.

He then will visit the Canadian city of Ottawa to meet his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper and attend a ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. 

(Yonhap News)