South Korea joins Chile and other countries in digital economy agreement

Three years since Chili sign the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement with New Zealand and Singapore, a new member country is added, South Korea.

According to a note from Financial Diarywithin the framework of the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) In Paris, the authorities involved announced the closure of negotiations for the Asian country to enter the agreement.

The agreement is intended to provide a legal framework for Information and Communication Technology companies (TIC) to export digital services and products, with a focus on new opportunities that include individuals and SMEs in the Global economy. In addition, to explore new subjects in the technological context that serve society in general through inclusive economic development.

Likewise, it includes disciplines of free flow of data, non-discrimination of digital products; and no imposition of forced localization for computer equipment, in order to create a modern digital business policy.

It is worth mentioning that the closing of the negotiations was carried out by the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations, Claudia Sanhueza; New Zealand Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Damien O’Connor; the Minister in charge of Trade Relations of Singapore S Iswaran; and his South Korean Trade Peer, Dukgeun Ahn.

In this regard, Undersecretary Sanhueza mentioned that “The digitization of the economy is a path towards greater prosperity for our population, and a great opportunity to democratize the participation of people in a more sustainable and inclusive trade, making it easier for companies and consumers to take advantage of and speed up the opportunities offered he electronic commerce”.

The authorities also highlighted that the entry corresponds to an important milestone for this agreement, since it is the first country to enter through an accession process. However, there are also Working Groups for the accession of China and Canadaand conversations with Costa Rica and Peru.

Among the next steps to be taken by the members of the agreement is the formalization of the decision before the Joint Committee, made up of government representatives from each party, to then comply with the respective internal procedures in each country for its entry into force.