South Korea and Israel have begun negotiations for a bilateral free trade pact.  

Seoul’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday that the first round of talks for the South Korea-Israel Free Trade Agreement(FTA) was launched at Lotte Hotel in Seoul earlier in the day.

The two sides will discuss various trade issues involving manufactured goods, services and investment, as well as technology cooperation.

South Korea exported one-billion-18-million dollars worth of goods and services to Israel last year, while importing 870 million dollars from the country in the same year.

Israel is the 49th largest trade partner for South Korea, and the volume of trade between the two countries has been waning since 2012.

South Korea’s main export items vis-à-vis Israel are cars, wireless telecommunication devices, and synthetic resins, while it imports from Israel semiconductor manufacturing devices, applied electronic devices, aircraft and its components among other things.