The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy says South Korea and Israel are close to finalizing a bilateral free trade agreement.

The two sides held a fourth round of negotiations from April 19th to 30th in Jerusalem.

The ministry said they discussed on a wide range of issues, including investment, place of origin, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property rights, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and the environment. The ministry said both sides reached agreement on most of the issues except for a small number of contentious areas. 

They are expected to further narrow their differences during a fifth round of trade talks set for May 22nd in Seoul.