Robert Sturdy addresses Conference on EU-South Korea FTA
Posted, October 28, 2011 @ 11:00
Brussels, Friday 28th October 2011 - Robert Sturdy, Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee and East of England MEP, was a keynote speaker yesterday (Thurs) at a conference in Brussels on the implementation of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, which came into force on July 1.
Alongside His Excellency Ahn Ho-young, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the EU and Mr. Jean-Luc Demarty, Director General for Trade, European Commission, Mr. Sturdy outlined the Parliament's role in the negotiation of the FTA. Mr. Sturdy, also the Parliament's rapporteur or author of the FTA, praised the promising news that the EU had posted its first trade surplus with South Korea in over 10 years.
However, he also sounded a note of caution that the Commission should not rest on its laurels and undertake initiatives to ensure that small and medium sized enterprises, as well as large corporations, would see the benefits that increased trade with South Korea had to offer.
Mr. Sturdy will be hosting a conference at Cambridge University, in the heart of the East of England, in early March 2012 on how small companies can benefit from developments in global trade, such as the EU-South Korea FTA. For more details please contact Mr. Sturdy via the details below.
Speaking after the Conference, Mr. Sturdy commented:
"It is a source of great pride to have been apart of something as important as the EU-South Korea FTA. This agreement will mean more trade, more growth and more jobs for the UK.
"It is imperative that British and European business take advantage of the opportunities that this agreement has to offer. Unfortunately this is often complicated for small and medium sized companies. Affirmative action must be taken to build business awareness of the new possibilities for exports and investment across the whole EU. This is something that I plan to address for the UK at my Going Global conference in March"