mr president i believe that this korean free trade agreement is important for three reasons
firstly as you have indicated it is a win-win deal for korea and for the european union economies
it is good for consumers it is good for jobs and as you rightly say it has a potential to add nineteen billion to our trade flows with korea
secondly though given the debate we have just had in the context of the current global financial crisis it sets a very positive example
if two large economies like the european union and korea can agree a free trade agreement it sets an impetus for other partners
japan for example is showing much more interest in economic relations with the european union than it was just a few years ago and partly that is due to the korean deal
suddenly on the other side the koreans are finding the us is now coming back knocking on their door wanting to get the korus agreement moving again
the third reason more parochially but i hope colleagues in the house will bear this in mind is that it is important for parliament because many of the demands we made in my report have been met by the commission and time does not permit me to go through them all but i want to just give you three or four examples
firstly we said in my report that we needed much better access to the korean agricultural market
well korean agricultural tariffs are going to come down by seventy-five over the first seven years of this agreement we wanted our geographical indicators protected our whisky our champagnes our wines our hams and so on are going to be protected in korea as a result of this agreement
and they are not as one of my colleagues indicated insignificant
scottish whisky sells gbp one hundred and thirty-seven million worth a year into the korean market already so with this deal we could see a significant increase
we called for non-tariff barriers to be tackled and this will be of particular benefit to the automobile industry
we wanted improved trade in environmental goods
well under this deal environmental trade in goods and services will after three years have virtually duty-free access to the korean market and their environmental goods and services duty-free access to our market
we asked as a parliament for improved social and environmental standards
well korea since the negotiations have been initialled has signed four ilo conventions and their trade and sustainable development forum is going to be established as a result of this agreement allowing the civil partners in korea to ensure that greater market opening is accompanied by labour and environmental standards improvements
all of these things parliament asked for
it would be ludicrous and perverse for us to turn our back on them having achieved them
is this a perfect deal
well of course it is not
are there things in it that i would not want in it of course there are but negotiations mean that you have to come and go but on balance is it a good deal for europe
yes
is it a good deal for korea
yes
is it a good deal potentially for the world economy
yes
so we should not shilly-shally on this we should get on and sign it
