The South Korea-Colombia free trade agreement(FTA) went into effect on Friday.

Under the deal, Colombia has immediately lifted the tariffs on four-thousand-390 South Korean goods.

The tariffs on two-thousand-797 South Korean goods have also been lowered.

It raises the expectations South Korea will increase exports to Colombia, in particular the exports of cars, cosmetics and foods.

Implemented three years and five months after signing the pact, the South Korea-Colombia FTA is the first free trade deal that Bogota signed with an Asian country. 

South Korea has established FTAs with other Latin American countries, including Chile in 2004 and Peru in 2011.

The trade deal would phase out most of the tariffs imposed by South Korea and Colombia on each other’s products within ten years after its implementation.  

With a population of 47-point-six million, Colombia is one of the fastest-growing consumer markets in Latin America. 

South Korea’s major exports to Colombia are cars, auto parts, synthetic resins and petrochemical products, while it imports oil, coffee and alloy iron from the Latin American country.